Tencent sacks 5.5K employees after sales fall for the 1st time since the company went publicly

Beijing 18 August : Chinese conglomerate Tencent has laid off 5,500 employees after announcing a profit of $19.8 billion in the June quarter, which was down 3 percent, which is the first drop since the company went public.

Tencent has reduced its workforce for the first time since 2014.cutting its number of employees down to just 110,715 at the end of June which is down from 116,213 in March According to the company "During the second quarter of 2018, we aggressively eliminated non-core business, sped up our marketing expenditures and reduced operating expenses, which allowed us to increase our non-IFRS earnings despite challenging revenue conditions," said Pony Ma Huateng Chief Executive and founder of Tencent.

Net income was 18 billion yuan in the last quarter, down 56 percent from the previous year and a little below analysts estimates of 25 billion yuan.The reports also suggest that Tencent was considering selling a portion or all of its 17 percent stake in Meituan Meituan, one of Chinas biggest food delivery companies.

The company has, however, denied the information during its earnings call on Wednesday.The sales of video gaming at home and around the world both declined.

The company attributed the sluggish performance to "fewer big game releases and lower user spending and the introduction of minor measures to protect users".na/ .