[The Epoch Times, March 14, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Cheng Jing reported) The mainland Internet giant Tencent and Alibaba employees recently reported that Tencent expects to lay off 10% to 25% of its employees, while Alibaba will lay off 30% of its employees. The stock prices of the two companies plummeted again today (14th). There is also news that Tencent may face a record-breaking fine.
News: Tencent to be ‘record-breaking fine’ by central bank
The Wall Street Journal on Monday (14th), citing people familiar with the matter, said that financial regulators recently found that WeChat Pay flouted official anti-money laundering rules by complying with rules such as “know your customer” and “know your business.” loopholes, or face a “record-breaking fine”.
Tencent’s ubiquitous mobile payment network has also been found to allow the transfer and laundering of funds through illegal transactions such as gambling, the people said. For WeChat Pay, the “know your customer” and “know your business” regulations mean that the identity of the users who transact on its platform and the source of funds for the transactions must be verified.
Tencent’s irregularities were discovered during a routine inspection by the central bank in 2021, the people said. The amount of the fine is still being negotiated and could be at least hundreds of millions of yuan, which would be far higher than the amount of such fines in the past.
Tencent and Alibaba share prices plummet again
Shares of internet companies such as Alibaba and Tencent continued to tumble on Monday. According to China Business News, Alibaba’s Hong Kong stocks fell by more than 10%, and Tencent once fell by 10%.
According to the report, Tencent Holdings plunged in late trading, with a drop of as much as 10%, and its market value fell below HK$3.2 trillion. As of press time, the stock fell more than 8% to HK$337.8.
Alibaba plummeted by more than 10%, and its share price continued to record lows at HK$81.1.
“Economic Daily” said that Alibaba’s Hong Kong stocks have fallen by 30% during the year, and have fallen by 70% from their highs two years ago.
Alibaba’s U.S. stocks continued to bottom out on Monday, falling below $80 in the morning market to a low of $77.7. Although Alibaba’s decline has narrowed, it is still at a more than 5-year low.
Monday was the third day that Chinese concept stocks plummeted. Since last Thursday (10th) evening, the US SEC identified five US-listed Chinese companies as “relevant issuers” with delisting risks in accordance with the “Foreign Company Accountability Act”. “Three Days of Fright”.
“Financial World” reported that last Friday (11th) Alibaba fell back to its opening price 8 years ago, Tencent Music plunged more than 10% again, and Didi’s stock price fell below $2, plummeting 44% overnight. According to the report, Chinese stocks are in a moment of confusion and have fallen for an era.
In the past year, the share prices of Chinese Internet companies in the US and Hong Kong stocks have fallen by more than 50%, and companies such as Pinduoduo, Kuaishou, Shell, and Bilibili have fallen by more than 80%.
Ali and Tencent layoff news rushed to Weibo hot search
A few days ago, the news that Internet giants such as Tencent and Alibaba will lay off large-scale layoffs in the next few weeks again appeared on the hot search yesterday (13th) evening, and the topics of “Alibaba layoffs”, “Tencent layoffs” and “layoffs” rose to 19. Ten thousand.
According to news from social platforms, Tencent and Alibaba will lay off employees in the next few weeks. According to internal speculation among employees, Tencent is expected to lay off 10% to 30% of its employees, and Alibaba will lay off 30% of its employees.
Last week, Alibaba employees disclosed on the workplace social platform that Alibaba is about to start a new round of layoffs, and its MMC business group has laid off 20% of its staff. Several business lines have preliminarily finalized the layoff list.
A Maimai netizen who was certified as an Ali employee said that he had “received a layoff notice and let himself make a living”. Some job seekers said that they had passed three rounds of interviews, but were told by HR that the process was terminated, and even Ali’s hc (new recruiting quota) was frozen.
In addition, Tencent also reported layoffs of 10% to 25%.
Judging from the chat records transmitted on the Internet, Tencent PCG (Platform and Content Business Group) will lay off 4,000 employees, CSIG (Cloud and Smart Industry Business Group) will lay off 2,000 employees, and it is expected to lay off 10% to 15%. It is 20% to 25% layoffs, and will continue to cut wages later.
So far, Alibaba and Tencent officials have not responded to the matter.
A person close to Tencent said that there are indeed layoffs at Tencent PCG. However, according to relevant insiders interviewed by “Times Weekly”, there are some positions for business adjustment and optimization, but the situation on the Internet has been exaggerated.
Responsible editor: Li Qiong#