Joining the bandwagon of global companies slashing jobs, Chinese tech firm Xiaomi Corp has reportedly laid off around 15 percent of its employees at several units of its smartphone and internet services business.
Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported the news citing social media posts by affected employees and local Chinese media. The newspaper said that China’s social media platforms, including Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Maimai, have been flooded with posts about the mass layoff.
Xiaomi had 35,314 employees as of September-end, the paper reported, saying of these over 32,000 were employed in mainland China. The latest jobs cut move could affect thousands of employees, many of whom have just onboarded during a hiring spree that began in December last year.
The layoffs are happening in the backdrop of Xiaomi reporting a 9.7 percent fall in the third-quarter revenue in November amid pandemic-related restrictions in China and falling consumer demand. Smartphone revenue, which constitutes around 60 percent of total sales, fell by 11 percent year-on-year.
Its employees impacted by the jobs cut have posted their ordeal on various Chinese social media platforms, including Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Maimai.
The report claims that the platforms are ‘flooded with posts’ about Xiaomi job cuts. Xiaomi is one of the major smartphone makers in the world and is the biggest in China. The layoffs show the new wave of job cuts has also started impacting companies in China.
As far as Xiaomi’s India performance is concerned, it is losing market share to players like Samsung, Vivo, Realme and Oppo; though it still maintains the top spot, according to Counterpoint Research, the gap is being filled by rivals and they are extremely close to its sales numbers. Xiaomi and Samsung have a market share of 19 percent in the Indian market, followed by Vivo at 17 percent, Realme at 16 percent and Oppo at 11 percent, as per Counterpoint Research data.
