Laying off: Chinese Ride-hailing Firm Didi Chuxing to Let Go 15 Percent of Employees This Year

Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-hailing firm, grapples with regulators scrutiny and public backlash over the murder of two of its users. As a result, the firm plans to lay off 15 percent of its staff this year, Reuters reported.

According to the report, a source familiar with the matterconfirmed that the Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Cheng Wei, had already informed its staff of layingoff as many as 2,000 employees this year. The source is associated with the news agency.

However, the ride-hailing firm plans to hire more than 2,000 employees to focus on product engineering, safety technology, and international expansion with the goal of maintaining its overall employee count.

When contacted by the news agency, a Didi spokesperson refused to comment, the report said.

Didi Chuxing is under the radar of government agencies after a passenger was raped and killed by one of its drivers in August last year. The driver was sentenced to death by a Chinese court, later. In the wake of such issues, the firm has been working to address consumer and government concerns over safety.

In 2016, Didi was able to drive US-based rival Uber out of China. However, the firm is now facing financial constraints due to the rise of bike-sharing services like Mobike and the entrance of new players.

It’s learnt that the ride-hailing firm lost 10.9 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) last year.