Tencent's layoff program to continue biting

Tencent (0700) is expected to continue a massive staff layoff program in the second half of this year, with some departments expected to lose over 10 percent of their strength.

Employees look like being let go under what had been described as an "organizational optimization plan" formulated by the company to downsize in selected departments.

The company had a strength of around 116,000 at the end of March.

The end of May saw Tencent's business groups Cloud & Smart Industries Group and its Platform & Content Group record the largest number of layoffs in the first half of the year.

Reports are that Cloud & Smart cut about 15 percent of its employees, while Tencent Sports let go more than 30 percent. But Platform & Content's overall layoff rate reached from 40 percent to 50 percent of its strength because of a failure to meet its cost-saving target.

Other Tencent departments that are reportedly feeling the pinch include the Interactive Entertainment, Corporate Development, Technology Engineering and Weixin.

They are said to have laid off about 10 percent of their staffs between March and June 20.

And more workers will be impacted by the layoff trend.

It has also been reported that the Tencent layoff program during the first half of the year involved mostly entry-level and junior employees while experienced people were retained. That is expected to change during the second half of the year, with even some senior management teams in line for the chop.