Tech giants Alibaba, Tencent likely to trim workforce by up to 30%

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It is rumoured in the Chinese social media platform Weibo that tech giants Alibaba and Tencent employees are expecting around 30 per cent job cuts.

On March 13 and 14, Alibaba and Tencent layoffs appeared on Weibo trends, reported local media.

There was internal speculation among employees, that Tencent expects to lay off 10 per cent to 30 per cent of its employees, and Alibaba will lay off 30 per cent of its employees.

Since the pandemic began there have been many layoffs by the tech giants. Meanwhile, Alibaba and Tencent both of them are the biggest tech companies in China.

Alibaba's community group-buying business unit MMC is reportedly planning to lay off about 20 per cent of its employees, reported Chinese media publication Yilanshangye.

The reported layoffs come amid an ongoing crackdown on tech in Beijing. While iQiyi is reportedly letting go of around 20 per cent to 40 per cent of its current workforce, Kuaishou is looking to lay off 30 per cent of its staff.

Tencent started layoffs within small business departments in September 2021.

The posts on Weibo showed that the current economic situation is being reflected in the following things: internet tech layoffs; real estate debt crisis; salary cuts for government services and negative growth of residents' medium and long-term loans.

China has recorded the lowest economic growth in four decades as it grew by 2.3 per cent according to the latest data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics.

China, which is the second-biggest economy in the world, is facing a slowdown due to a slump in manufacturing, real estate, exports, inflation, and consumer spending, according to several reports, which added that the ongoing Ukraine crisis poses may further damage its economy.

This year, China has set a target of around 5.5 per cent for GDP growth, which is the lowest in decades.

The Hong Kong Post reported that rising crude oil prices and hurdles in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are going to worsen China's economic woes. China's GDP had grown by 8.1 per cent in 2021. However, it would not be easy for China to even reach 5.5 per cent growth this year.

Rising unemployment is another major problem China is facing as unemployment among fresh university graduates increased to 0.88 in the fourth quarter of 2021 from 0.79 in the second quarter of 2020, as per reports.