PUBG parent Tencent fires over 100 employees for bribery, embezzlement amid regulatory crackdown

Chinese tech giant Tencent has recently announced that it had fired over a hundred employees for violating company policies, some of whom have been referred to police and later found guilty of bribery and embezzlement. This Hong Kong-listed company is the world's top video game maker and the owner of the popular super-app WeChat, but it has been struggling under a broad regulatory crackdown on China's tech sector initiated in late 2020.

In a statement, the company, which posted its second consecutive quarterly decline in revenue in November, said it had found over 100 employees guilty of violating its anti-fraud policy. More than 10 of them were transferred to China's public security organ, it added. The company stated that it has been taking strong actions in response to the problems of corruption and fraud within the company, and has been strengthening its crackdown on these issues.

"The number of cases and personnel investigated and dealt with throughout 2022 has increased compared with 2021," the company said. Those accused were found to have embezzled company funds and accepting bribes, with some referred to police and found guilty in court. A number of those fired and accused of corruption were part of the company's PCG arm, which oversees its mammoth content output from news to sports and movies.

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But, the violations also span Tencent's other businesses, including cloud computing and fintech. Most notably, one employee was found guilty of "accepting bribes from non-state employees" and sentenced to three years in jail, the company said. The CEO of the company, Pony Ma, stated in an internal staff meeting last month that the level of corruption at the firm was "shocking", as reported by state media.

Tencent has been hit hard by a regulatory crackdown on video games by Beijing, which saw hundreds of firms pledged to scrub "politically harmful" content from their products and enforce curbs on underage players to comply with government demands. However, the company has shown signs of revival, with its share price almost doubling in Hong Kong since October 28, when it hit a low not seen since 2017. The firm was also last month granted its first license for a video game in 18 months, ending a dry spell that had hampered the profits of the world's top game maker.

(With inputs from Agencies)