Sources: Tencent, ByteDance, and others lay off thousands of employees after Chinese internet companies cut tens of thousands during regulatory crackdowns (Raffaele Huang/Wall Street Journal)
Companies worldwide are laying off thousands of employees after recent regulatory crackdowns on foreign internet companies. This happens when the U.S. is already concerned about China’sChina’s dominance of the world’sworld’s tech industry. While the U.S. government has not officially accused these companies of illegal activities, the moves are a response to the increased scrutiny. China is no stranger to cutting off access to sensitive data or websites. And these moves may be an attempt to reduce the competition for their domestic market by limiting foreign influence in the industry. Sources: Tencent, ByteDance, and others lay off thousands of employees after Chinese internet companies cut tens of thousands during regulatory crackdowns.
Why Tencent, ByteDance, and others lay off thousands of employees?
Sources: Tencent, ByteDance, and others lay off thousands of employees after Chinese internet companies cut tens of thousands during regulatory crackdowns. Tencent announced Friday that they are laying off 10,000 employees across the company. This is Tencent’s second round of layoffs after laying off 5,000 employees in 2017. While the Chinese media reported that some of those laid off were contractors, the overall scale of the layoffs is much larger than just a contractor layoff. ByteDance, another large social network app company in China, laid off 20,000 employees last year. Nearly all of the tech industry in China has been suffering from the ongoing trade war with the U.S.
Why Chinese internet companies cut tens of thousands during regulatory crackdowns?
The past few years have seen a rash of Chinese internet company layoffs. Tencent and ByteDance, two of China’sChina’s largest internet companies, are the latest to take action. Tencent announced last month that it would lay off 4,000 people, while ByteDance announced in March that it would cut around 10,000 jobs from its staff of about 40,000 people. Last year, JD.com, one of the country’scountry’s biggest online retailers, said it would let some employees go, and Baidu, Alibaba, and Sina also laid off hundreds of workers, according to Chinese state media. The companies blamed the layoffs on slower-than-expected growth, but many economists say China’sChina’s stock market crashed.
How did the layoffs affect Tencent, ByteDance, and other Chinese internet companies?
The recent layoffs at Chinese internet companies like ByteDance (which owns TikTok) and Tencent have led to much confusion and speculation. Both ByteDance and Tencent have stated that they were only laying off a small percentage of employees and that there wasn’twasn’t any reason to worry. But while this is true, it isn’tisn’t all that helpful when you consider the sheer size of the companies and how much more work they have to do before they become profitable. The fact is that the layoffs were necessary for both companies to stay in business. Sources: Tencent, ByteDance, and others lay off thousands of employees after Chinese internet companies cut tens of thousands during regulatory crackdowns.
Conclusion
In conclusion, under pressure from the Chinese government, some of China’sChina’s top tech firms, including Tencent and ByteDance, laid off thousands of employees, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Tuesday. The layoffs come amid increasing scrutiny from Beijing, which has been seeking to rein in Chinese companies with global ambitions. After a decade of growth, China’sChina’s internet companies have suffered a series of setbacks in recent years, most notably the introduction of new rules that require internet firms to apply for government approval before operating in the country. Companies such as Tencent and ByteDance have been hit hardest. Over the past week, the number of employees laid off at Tencent and ByteDance has reached the thousands.
FAQs
1. What is Tencent?
Tencent is a Chinese company that owns the messaging app WeChat. Tencent was founded in 1997 and has over 800 million users.
2. What is ByteDance?
ByteDance is a Chinese company that owns the messaging app TikTok. ByteDance was founded in 2013 and has over 500 million users.
3. How did Tencent and ByteDance get into trouble with the government?
Tencent and ByteDance were accused of violating China’sChina’s strict cybersecurity law, which requires all companies to install backdoors into their software.
4. Why did Beijing crack down on these internet companies?
Beijing cracked down on Tencent and ByteDance because they wanted to restrict the amount of content Chinese internet users could see. They said that this would promote the “greater good.”
