Tech Layoffs At Shopee And Elsewhere

If you've read my post “Google Warning Of Blood On The Streets” published August 17th, you'll know that tech layoffs are becoming increasingly common. Well, I just read the news that another major tech player makes it on the list! 

Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce firm Shopee have rescinded dozens of job offers in the past two weeks, sources said, a move that began shortly after parent company Sea Ltd reported widening losses and sharply slower revenue growth. 

Four people interviewed by Reuters who have participated in a WeChat group of some 60 people that was set up to discuss Shopee’s withdrawal of offers said their offers were pulled just days before they were due to begin work. 

Singapore-based Sea said they had recently cancelled offers at Shopee but declined to say how many. 

“Due to adjustments to hiring plans on some tech teams, a number of roles at Shopee are no longer available. We are working closely to support those affected”, a company representative said. 

The move follows other recent job cuts at Sea. Staff at Booyah!, a gaming livestream app, which is part of Sea’s gaming unit Garena, were told they would be let go and the app would no longer be updated, separate sources have told Reuters, adding that projects at Sea’s development unit were also shut down. 

Earlier this year, media reports also said Shopee had shed headcount in Southeast Asia, Mexico and Latin America. Shopee declined to comment on those reports. 

In fact, hundreds of workers from start-ups in Southeast Asia have been fired this year, proving that the fast-growing industry is not immune to the global economic slowdown. 

In Singapore, digital wealth manager StashAway laid off 31 employees, or 14% of their headcount in end-May and June. And digital currency exchange Crypto.com also laid off 260, or 5% of their workforce. 

Meanwhile, Indonesian education tech company Zenius let go of more than 200 employees. Dozens of workers were also reportedly laid off from other Indonesian start-ups including e-commerce enabler Lummo and digital payments provider LinkAja. 

Even JD.ID, the Indonesian arm of Chinese e-commerce site JD.com, have also cut jobs. Jenie Simon, director of general management, said the redundancies were “to maintain the company’s competitiveness in the e-commerce’s competitive market in Indonesia”. She did not say how many were laid off. 

In Malaysia, online shopping platform iPrice retrenched one-fifth of their staff in June. The company said they had 250 employees before the layoff. 

Given the prevailing economic uncertainties, this is not the end!

UPDATE: According to a Crunchbase News tally, more than 41,000 workers in the US tech sector have been laid off in mass job cuts so far in 2022. And more to come!