Meituan starts a new round of layoffs

Meituan’s new round of layoffs has begun

Meituan’s new round of layoffs has begun. Someone mentioned on the workplace social platform Maimai that Meituan’s layoffs were as early as March 3 The moon has already begun to show its signs. Some employees with sensitive personalities also discovered clues of layoffs from various abnormal situations, and a new round of layoffs began at Meituan. Meituan starts a new round of layoffs 1

According to news on April 15, Meituan carried out layoffs from April 8 to 9. The businesses involved include the Daojia business group where the core food delivery business is located, and " Cash Cow" in-store business group and wine and travel business group, as well as Meituan Selection, Meituan Grocery, Kuailu, etc.

The magnitude of the layoffs ranges from 10 to 20, and the positions involve operations, functional, and technical personnel, and the compensation is "N 1".

A current employee of Meituan said that the anonymous chat section within Meituan is flooded with a large number of "graduation" posts, which point to the biggest wave of events that has just occurred in Meituan in the past two years. Layoffs. The current layoffs are only preliminary actions, and there will be more significant personnel adjustments in late April. "All available conference rooms on Friday have been reserved by people from the HR department. It is said that this is only the first wave of layoffs, and there will be two more waves. The layoffs are expected to be completed by the end of April."

According to reports, the layoffs were carried out after Meituan announced a net increase of 17,000 jobs from July 2021 to mid-March 2022. Meituan said in February that it would recruit 10,000 fresh graduates, including interns. Previously, due to the overall ebb of the community group buying industry, news of layoffs at Meituan Preferred has spread. But this is the first time news of layoffs involving online ride-hailing, wine and travel businesses has been exposed.

Meituan’s 2021 financial report shows that its annual revenue was 179.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.0, with a net loss of 23.5 billion yuan and an adjusted net loss of 15.6 billion yuan. The losses mainly come from new businesses and others, including community group buying, taxi hailing, grocery shopping and other businesses. In 2021, revenue from new business and other segments increased by 8.44 year-on-year to 50.3 billion yuan. The operating loss of new business and other segments expanded from 10.9 billion yuan in 2020 to 38.4 billion yuan in 2021, and the operating loss rate expanded by 36.6% year-on-year.

At present, wine tourism is still Meituan’s largest source of profit. In 2021, in-store, hotel and tourism revenue was 32.53 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 53.1, operating profit was 14.093 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 72.3, and the operating profit margin increased from 38.5 to 43.3. The food delivery business brought Meituan 96.3 billion yuan in revenue and a profit of 6.1 billion yuan. Meituan’s new round of large-scale layoffs begins 2

Recently, Photon Planet confirmed through multiple Meituan insiders that Meituan has started a new round of large-scale layoffs since last week. This layoff involves almost all employees. business unit.

Meituan’s current round of layoffs may involve 15-20% of the company’s entire staff. An insider revealed to Photon Planet that the proportion of layoffs in the three major business segments is different. About 5 in the home business group and about 10 in the in-store business group. The proportion of layoffs in the new business segment is relatively highest, among which "Kuaimaiyou" (Kuailu) , Meituan Selection, Meituan Maicai), the layoffs will be approximately 20%.

In other words, the three major businesses of "Kuaimaiyou", which are in charge of Vice President Guo Wanhuai, have become the "hardest hit areas" of this layoff.

Not only is Meituan shedding old employees, but also showing signs of freezing when it comes to recruiting new employees.

A senior industry insider told Photon Planet that he had received an interview invitation from Meituan in early April. Last week, he was suddenly informed before the interview that he would not come. HR told him that "the company has locked headcount (employees)." scale), we will conduct a round of layoffs and will not recruit external personnel for the time being."

From setting an expansion plan to recruit 60,000 new people at the beginning of last year to laying off almost all business lines a year later, Meituan has demonstrated its commitment to the company through completely different actions. Views on the current environment and predictions of development in the future.

In order to leave with dignity

A senior Internet person told Photon Planet that a certain couple both worked in a large factory. In March, the husband "graduated" from JD.com, and in April he was in the United States. Tuan’s wife was also “optimized” away.

If JD.com used "graduation" to cover up its layoffs and set a precedent for large companies to organize funerals quickly, then Meituan's layoffs have set off a trend of hastening funerals.

"JD.com’s layoffs are relatively mild. Many things can be discussed, including how many months of compensation will be paid. The key depends on how you fight for it. Some people left in March, and some people have not left yet. After the negotiation, you don’t have to go to work at the company, and your salary will be paid until the last day. However, Meituan treats layoffs in a relatively simple and rough manner, and there is no room for bargaining.”

Become one of the ranks of Meituan’s layoffs. Wang Hao, a member of the staff, told Photon Planet: "I was still working in the morning, and I didn't even sleep at noon. I originally made an appointment with other departments for a meeting at five o'clock, but they called me over at four-thirty. At that time, everyone was still busy. Confused. ”

According to him, a leader at the company’s HRBP and X2 level notified the team, and then called people one by one to talk. "Basically, after the people in front talk about it, just by looking at their faces, the people behind them all know what's going on."

Faced with this situation, most people are like Wang Hao, completely indifferent. Any mental preparation. Photon Planet understands that behind the uniform layoffs, everyone has a completely different situation. Some people can accept it calmly and sign with N 1; some people burst into tears on the spot and can't understand why it is them; and some people don't want to be laid off, so they fight against the company.

"Actually, fighting is basically useless and unnecessary. What's the point?" Wang Hao looked at it calmly because he knew very well what methods the company had. "The plan has been decided a long time ago. Now it is an execution process. We will only follow the process."

When recalling his experience a few days ago, he mentioned that he had tested HR, "If you don't accept it, When asked about how they would respond to this plan, the other party simply said "You don't have to accept this plan" and terminated the communication.

"All permissions were locked the next day, which meant that the struggle was in vain. ". Wang Hao said that the company will give it three days. If it is not signed within three days, the company will unilaterally terminate the contract and of course will pay compensation in accordance with the process."

In fact, the company did I have been compensated in accordance with the regulations, but if I continue to struggle, it will only have a worse impact on myself in the end.

“If the contract is unilaterally terminated by the company, it will affect my background in my next job.” It is reported that there are many people who hold this view, and in the end they have no choice but to make decisive changes in the separation agreement. Sign and go through the entire process quickly within one day.

For the sake of present dignity and future dignity, Meituan people one after another walked out of the office building in helplessness and unwillingness.

It’s not without warning

Regarding the layoffs, many people have heard the news before, but they have never confirmed it. Colleagues sometimes joke among themselves in private, "No one can tell whether we will see him tomorrow."

Someone mentioned on the workplace social platform Maimai that Meituan’s layoffs had already begun to appear as early as March. At that time, I was informed that the personal school city space was not allowed to have work content, and the space permissions were organized, and all content must be placed in the public space. In addition, an attendance system has been developed without limiting punch-in time.

Some employees with sensitive personalities also discovered clues about layoffs from various abnormal situations. "About a week ago, the attendance time was locked and we were not allowed to see it at all."

Although there were doubts, when this day actually arrived, people were still a little unprepared. "Most people are confused, there are no warnings, and they don't give you any buffer time at all." According to the recollection of a laid-off employee, the company notified him that day and then asked him to hand in his computer in the afternoon. At 9 p.m., all his permissions were closed.

Those who were laid off felt helpless, and those who stayed in Meituan were also affected by the layoffs. Their normal work rhythm was affected.

Chen Yang told Photon Planet, "During this period, we couldn't reserve a conference room. Every time it showed that it was fully booked, and when I asked, it was always occupied for a long time." Until by chance, he saw The desks in the conference room were piled with resumes, and I realized that the HR staff had booked the conference room in advance to reduce layoffs.

Many laid-off employees believe that the reason why Meituan is so resolute is that it is afraid that employees will get together to cause trouble. Once the situation expands, it will be difficult to deal with it. From a time logic point of view, there have been many precedents for large companies to lay off employees before. Meituan has the strongest analysis team among domestic Internet giants. It may have already learned from China's experience and formulated the above plan.

As for the reasons for this layoff, in addition to the factors known to the outside world such as the epidemic and supervision, in the short term, Meituan has traditionally raised salary around May, and layoffs may also be considered at this time. to cost factors.

Chen Yang told Photon Planet, "According to normal circumstances, if the performance of the previous year was not rated very low, there would be an increase of 5-10." He analyzed that if there were layoffs at this time, the company would Compensation of N1 will be based on the previous basic salary and will not wait until the salary adjustment. That’s why Meituan chose to lay off employees at this delicate time.

Another insider confirmed the above statement. He noticed that the promotion of the grocery shopping business was delayed. "Normally, preparations for promotion nominations and work reports begin in April, and May is the promotion season." But so far, Not started yet. Meituan starts a new round of layoffs 3

In 2022, layoffs have become a topic closely related to the Internet. What follows is that the demographic dividend has peaked, the industry has hit the ceiling, and even China’s Internet has come to an end. comments, many Internet users began to worry about their future.

It is understood that from July 2021 to March 15 this year, domestic Internet companies laid off a total of 216,800 people in 9 months. The number of companies exceeds 35, ranging from Alibaba and Tencent to Xiaomi and Byte. Even JD.com, which once said it would not give up any of its brothers, has also implemented layoffs.

Moreover, layoffs are euphemistically referred to by Internet companies as “transporting talents to society”, “encouraging wolf nature and eliminating petty bourgeoisie”, or “congratulations on graduation”. Recently, Meituan’s “Graduation Ceremony” has been on Zhihu’s hot searches, and internal staff said it was the largest wave of layoffs in two years.

Nowadays, the wave of layoffs has swept across the entire Internet industry. Whether it is e-commerce, video websites, or local life platforms, they have all embarked on the path of layoffs. In a sense, this is no longer just one or two companies. The company's problem is the winter of the entire Internet industry.

From disorderly expansion to silence

Under the influence of the epidemic and the downturn of the global economic situation, China’s Internet market can no longer rely on the existing Traffic generates more cakes, and this “graduation season” continues.

Winter is approaching, and cost reduction and efficiency improvement have become common sense in the industry. For Internet companies, this wave of layoffs is not only about the past, but also affects the future.

In the past ten years, domestic Internet companies have begun to expand on a large scale, driven by capital. Major Internet companies are racing to enclose territory, develop new businesses, and prevent being overtaken by others. They adopt an attitude of offense and defense. , constantly competing with each other at the business level, hot money is pouring into wild expansion investment and employee labor costs.

At that time, Internet companies continued to launch new business sectors, and at the same time offered generous benefits and benefits, which attracted countless people. And those well-known Internet companies were called by netizens because of their large number of employees. It's a big factory.

However, this explosive growth driven by capital and hot money is facing the problem of sustainable development. Although the Internet demand caused by the epidemic continues to increase, it has not been transformed into the growth of Internet companies. Development opportunities, while over-expansion has resulted in departmental redundancy and huge labor costs, which in turn has made major Internet companies feel even more pressure.

As the number of incremental Internet users reaches its peak, the industry gradually loses its novelty and new stories emerge from endless to abrupt end. Against this background, Internet companies began to move away from fiction and toward reality. This also announced that the bubble of the last decade had dissipated. The barbaric exaggeration methods had become ineffective, and the hot money in the past also disappeared in the bubble.

Take Meituan as an example. On March 25, Meituan released its fourth quarter financial report and full-year financial report for 2021. The financial report shows that Meituan achieved revenue of 179.1 billion yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 56%; after adjustment, the net loss was 15.6 billion yuan, of which the loss in the fourth quarter was 3.9 billion yuan.

▲Meituan image

Looking at the food delivery, in-store hotel and travel and new businesses, the losses all come from the new business. In fact, in 2021, the profits of the takeaway and in-store hotel and travel businesses have achieved huge growth. The profit of the takeaway business has increased by 118%, reaching a record of 6.17 billion yuan, and the annual operating profit margin has reached 6.4%. The profit from the in-house hotel and travel business also reached a record high of 14.09 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 72.2%, and the profit margin was as high as 43.4%. New business suffered a huge loss of 38.39 billion yuan, an increase of 253.8% from the loss in 2020.

Specifically, the loss mainly came from an increase of 13.2 billion in employee benefit expenses caused by research and development, an increase of 61.4%; an increase of 12.2 billion in expenses from promotion, advertising and user incentives, an increase of 110.3%.

Not only that, the regulatory authorities’ heavy-handed anti-monopoly and anti-disorderly expansion of capital policies hit these Internet giants one by one, causing the capital market to immediately become silent, stock prices plummeting, and major companies Finally calmed down from the carnival of blind expansion.

As the tide recedes, the naked swimmers are exposed. Loss-making Internet companies are falling one after another, and layoffs are inevitable if they survive. Companies that once laid out a long front are trying to survive. Internet companies have rationally chosen to keep their own businesses, axing or downsizing whether they are profitable or even continuing. With a large amount of cash-burning non-main businesses, it is foreseeable that Internet companies will enter a period of stability and will no longer blindly expand as they did in previous years, but will find ways to survive.

From the cusp of the storm to an abrupt end

Meituan founder Wang Xing once said, “2019 was the worst year in the past ten years, but it is the future. The best year in ten years." This sentence has been verified time and time again in the Internet era. This time, the worst situation fell on Meituan.

According to Meituan insiders, Meituan’s layoffs are not decent. HR interviews the laid-off employees and terminates the labor contract on the spot. There is no buffer period. Those who are laid off usually receive notification the night before. , and lost internal software permissions the next day.

A current employee of Meituan said that the anonymous chat section within Meituan is flooded with a large number of "graduation" posts, which point to the largest wave of layoffs in the past two years that has just occurred in Meituan. The current layoffs are only preliminary actions, and there will be more significant personnel adjustments in late April. "All available conference rooms on Friday have been booked by people from the HR department. It is said that this is only the first wave of layoffs, and there will be two more waves. The layoffs are expected to be completed by the end of April."

▲Internet companies are laying off employees

In addition, investors are also leaving the market one after another. On April 8, 2022, the equity disclosure information of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange showed that, Recently, Sequoia Capital’s Shen Nanpeng has continuously reduced its holdings in Meituan (03690.HK). On March 31, Shen Nanpeng reduced his holdings of Meituan by 25.5785 million shares, with an average price of HK$153.8 per share. On April 6, Shen Nanpeng once again reduced his holdings of 12.9639 million Meituan shares, at HK$161.74 per share.

Shen Nanpeng reduced his holdings twice and sold a total of approximately 38.5424 million shares for HK$6.031 billion, and his shareholding ratio dropped to 3.98. Since April 2021, Shen Nanpeng has continued to reduce his holdings in Meituan, from 3.97 in 2020 100 million shares have been reduced all the way to the current 219 million shares, with a reduction range of 45.

For a long time in the past, Meituan has been a company that has been on the forefront. In the competition for talent, companies with strong capital support are often prone to offering generous benefits to compete for talents.

For Internet practitioners, they are also willing to seize the opportunities in the golden age of the Internet. Standing on the trend is more likely to achieve financial freedom, but now it seems that the uncertainty of the Internet trend far exceeds it. With the expectations brought about, some practitioners can even find it difficult to bear the consequences of layoffs, because in the cold winter, let alone changing to a higher-paying job, it is difficult to even find a position to support their families.

In 2022, layoffs have become the "Sword of Damocles" hanging over the heads of Internet practitioners. Both the grassroots and middle levels are facing the risk of being eliminated. Under the great shock, Internet companies are no longer the "promised land" in the minds of practitioners, but layoffs cannot solve the fundamental problem after all. Internet companies must adjust their development direction, service methods and service content, otherwise they are very likely to lose their jobs. Knocked out in the middle of winter.

In 2022, Internet companies should shift from "disordered expansion" to "returning to the essence", explore new increments with innovative thinking, and pay more attention to long-term value, so that they can have opportunities for continued development.