Chinese language meals supply agency Meituan plans to rent 10,000 employees as U.S. tech giants ax jobs

Chinese language meals supply agency Meituan plans to rent 10,000 employees within the first quarter of the 12 months, the corporate mentioned Wednesday, sending shares greater than 6% decrease.

Meituan is hiring throughout quite a lot of completely different areas of the enterprise together with expertise growth and buyer providers throughout dozens of cities together with Beijing and Shanghai. The corporate mentioned that it’s hiring because the “consumption restoration pattern” in China accelerates.

Final 12 months, China noticed a serious outbreak of Covid-19 throughout the nation, with lockdowns in Shanghai. Beijing continued to forge forward with its “zero-Covid” coverage that makes use of strict measures resembling mass testing and lockdowns to attempt to eradicate the unfold of the virus. That coverage has harm the Chinese language financial system. China ended its zero-Covid coverage on the finish of final 12 months, spurring hopes of a rebound within the Chinese language financial system which may additionally assist its embattled expertise corporations.

Meituan’s hiring spree is in distinction to Silicon Valley expertise giants from Microsoft to Alphabet which have laid off hundreds of employees.

However to some extent, China’s expertise cycle has come sooner than within the U.S. Chinese language tech corporations started to face headwinds in 2021 as Beijing enacted powerful regulation in areas from antitrust to knowledge safety. That 12 months, Meituan was hit with a $500 million antitrust wonderful.

In 2022, Chinese language expertise giants posted a few of their slowest progress in historical past because the financial system faltered and corporations from Alibaba to Tencent lowered headcount. Meituan reportedly laid off employees too final 12 months.

Meituan’s hiring spree may very well be the primary indicators that China’s expertise sector is taking a look at growth as soon as extra. Meituan has been a beneficiary of lockdowns in China as individuals turned to on-line meals supply. Its income jumped greater than 28% year-on-year within the September quarter whereas the corporate, which had been dropping cash, swung to revenue.

The inventory market didn’t like the corporate’s hiring announcement, which comes at a time when sentiment towards the Chinese language tech sector stays fragile. Meituan shares had been down 6% on Wednesday.

However the firm is going through extra intense competitors at house from its long-time rival Ele.me, which is owned by Alibaba, but additionally new gamers together with ByteDance’s brief video platform Douyin, which has been trialing a meals supply service since December and is contemplating growth.