Recently, news about layoffs at Tencent has been circulating widely on the internet, sparking significant discussion among netizens and Tencent employees. Phrases like “layoffs of 50%” and “8000 people to be let go” have circulated across social media platforms, prompting a flood of individuals to engage in discussions on the Chinese workplace social platform, Maimai, particularly within its “Colleague Circle” feature. This sudden influx of traffic led to temporary loading issues on the platform.
In response to the swirling rumors, Zhang Jun, Tencent’s public relations director, firmly denied the reports of layoffs.
The rumors originated during Tencent’s 28th anniversary celebration held on November 11, which included an online broadcast titled “Linktime.” During this live session, Tencent’s management team, including CEO Ma Huateng, discussed the company’s plans to accelerate organizational changes in order to adapt to business transformations prompted by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
A popular technology media outlet, “Dian Shang Pai,” reported that Ma Huateng maintained a serious demeanor throughout the broadcast, using stern language and referencing concepts such as “life and death” in relation to the company’s survival.
According to sources close to Tencent who spoke to the media, the management used metaphors of “Army” and “Navy” to describe the company’s business layout. The existing core business was likened to the “Army,” which needs to utilize AI to enhance efficiency, while the AI-native business—defined as those initiatives designed from the outset with AI capabilities at their core—was compared to the “Navy,” tasked with exploring new avenues for growth.
The statements shared during the live stream suggested that 50% of employees would focus on maintaining existing business operations, while the other 50% would embrace the wave of AI and support exploration into AI-native ventures. This particular remark quickly morphed into speculation of “Tencent laying off 50% of its staff” and led to further assertions such as “8000 people will be laid off” and “even senior employees at level 13 will be affected.”
As these rumors gained traction, many verified Tencent employees and netizens flocked to Maimai to discuss news related to personnel optimization. The discussions involved potential adjustments across multiple business lines, with some individuals pinpointing Tencent’s AI-related businesses, particularly within the “Hunyuan” project.
Maimai serves as a social networking platform for professionals in China, allowing employees to exchange workplace information and discuss company-related topics; the “Colleague Circle” is a discussion community formed based on workplace relationships, such as company affiliation.
On the evening of November 11, the “Colleague Circle” section of Maimai experienced a surge in traffic, particularly among Tencent employees, which ultimately caused temporary service disruptions. Some users reported that pages failed to load properly.
Following these service issues, a notice was issued by Maimai’s community assistant, indicating that certain services, such as the Colleague Circle and topic searches, faced temporary instability, and that some content might not load or be accessible. The technical team was already working on a fix and assured users that their published content would not be lost.
On November 12, Maimai released another announcement indicating that services related to the Colleague Circle, topics, and searches had returned to normal functionality and that content could be accessed without any issues.
Because the service disruptions coincided with the peak of the layoff rumors, the online community connected the two events, leading to speculations that the “layoff rumors caused the collapse of the colleague circle.” However, Maimai’s public announcement only confirmed that there were temporary instability issues with certain services and did not explicitly state that the disruptions were directly caused by the high traffic pertaining to discussions about Tencent.
In a response to the ongoing speculation on November 12, Zhang Jun reiterated on a social platform that these were merely misconceptions and rumors. He clarified that the company was reallocating resources to adapt to the AI era and emphasized that interpreting this as “50% layoffs” misrepresents the original intent.
Furthermore, sources familiar with Tencent maintained a consistent stance in clarifying the situation to the media.
Earlier this year, in late February, there were rumors about a planned layoff affecting hundreds of employees from Tencent’s Tianti Studio, specifically regarding the team working on the project “Shan Hai Xun Ling.” Reports from the “21st Century Economic Report” on February 28 indicated that while adjustments were indeed being made to that project, the number of affected employees was confirmed to be over a hundred, rather than exhaustive layoffs as speculated.