- Leading gaming company Tencent Holding Ltd TCEHY laid off nearly all of the editorial staff at Fanbyte, an online gaming publication, TechCrunch reports.
- The layoffs included the site’s editor-in-chief, head of media, features editor, social editor, news editor, graphic designer, podcast producer, and several writers.
- Fanbyte employees were laid off slowly, one by one, over several hours.
- After posting its first revenue decline last quarter, Tencent laid off about 5% of its workforce, affecting 5,000 people.
- The layoffs followed despite the assurance of government support towards the tech industry to boost the fallen economy.
- Tencent failed to win gaming license approval since the regulators lifted the suspension. China suspended game approvals last August before resuming them in April.
- Recently, Tencent shareholders added $7.6 billion in shares to Hong Kong’s clearing and settlement system, spurring speculation of a selloff by its biggest shareholder, Naspers Ltd NAPRF.
- As of the June quarter, Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA let go of 9,241 employees, representing 3.6% of its workforce, totaling 254,941 at the end of March.
- Price Action: Tencent shares fell 2.27% in Hong Kong on Friday.