On November 12, Zhang Jun, Tencent's PR Director, took to Weibo to refute online rumors that "Tencent will lay off 50% of its staff," dismissing them as "a complete misunderstanding and unfounded rumor." Zhang clarified that during Tencent's 28th anniversary Linktime online livestream, management expressed its commitment to accelerating organizational change and stressed that this initiative differs from the "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" efforts of a few years ago. The previous approach was relatively passive and focused primarily on "cutting costs," whereas this one is a proactive move tailored to the AI era, leaning more toward "boosting efficiency." It encourages frontline colleagues to take initiative and be aggressive, while requiring middle management to adopt a flatter and more agile structure.
