Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi has reportedly started layoff plans for its ride-hailing, two-wheeler (E-bike), freight and other travel businesses, with an overall layoff rate of about 20%.
The Internet industry is experiencing a downturn. Despite mass layoffs from large companies being an increasingly familiar sight, Didi, which is rumored to have to lay off employees half a year ago, has now announced their cuts.
Didi’s ride-hailing, two-wheeled, and freight businesses have all received layoff notifications, totalling around 20% of their team. The international department and the autonomous driving department are not laying off employees, and the latter is one of Didi’s most independent departments.
It is reported that in the middle of January, Didi innovation Business Division R-Lab began to lay off staff and all the domestic businesses were abolished. The division was established in 2017 and also created Didi Take-out. The layoff will be implemented rapidly, and the affected employees will be notified by the end of this month. The percentage of layoffs will vary on departments but will be around 20% altogether.
Didi is still unable to register new users, and the App is currently unavailable on the market, resulting in great loss of users and revenue. The business, which used to have a net profit of more than one billion yuan in a quarter, now loses 29 million yuan in the third quarter of 2021, and its market share of online ride-hailing has dropped from 90 percent to around 70 percent.
Didi has been one of the main regulatory targets of the Chinese government since it was listed on the U.S. stock market. With tensions high between China and the United States, Didi announced its delisting from the United States late last year, less than six months after it was listed there.
