Layoffs at Tencent-owned entertainment site Fanbyte
Usually we hear about Tencent, the Chinese conglomerate, spending money to buy gaming studios or something. It’s rare to hear Tencent actually doing something to cut costs. But according to Kotaku, it seems that Tencent has “gutted” the staff at its entertainment site, Fanbyte.
Apparently the layoffs were “a total shock”, sometimes even occurring an hour after work-related meetings. Even the site’s editor-in-chief (basically, the top position of a news site) and head of media are among the laid-off personnel. And it seems that the sentiment among the existing staff is that the layoffs are not yet done, with many waiting for the call.
Although sad as the news is, at least they are doing one thing right: each staff member has been contacted individually about the news. In an age where it is not unheard of for these announcements to come down the line through an email or an all-hands staff meeting, or worse, a mass Zoom call (like that guy from Better.com), this is a nice bit of humanity on what can be a devastating day.
