(Yicai Global) April 8 -- Staff numbers at China’s 12 biggest internet-based companies, including Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com, have remained little changed over the past eight months despite numerous rumors of large-scale lay-offs, the country’s cyber administration said today.

The 12 internet titans hired an additional 79,100 staff members between July last year and mid-March, the Cyberspace Administration of China said. In all, they recruited 295,900 people and 216,800 departed. Only one out of the 12 firms lost more staff than it hired.

Business was also good, and the companies are optimistic about the future, the regulator added.

Tencent’s headcount swelled 31.3 percent last year from the year before to 112,800, the Shenzhen-based firm said. The tech behemoth, which logged a 16.2 percent jump in revenue last year from the year before, will continue to hire core technical staff and outstanding graduates this year.

Meituan, whose 2021 earnings soared 56 percent year on year, has added 17,000 employees since last July and it continues to hire amid business expansions, it said.

Weibo did lay some staff off from its unprofitable businesses, but it also kept the headcount in other divisions stable and expanded the size of its content creation department, the microblogging site operator said. The staff number is set to increase this year.

JD.Com had to make some adjustments to new businesses as it shifts focus back to its main operations amid some operational changes, the e-commerce retailer said. The headcount has remained basically stable.

ByteDance’s headcount increased last year despite it dissolving some business divisions in the second half last year as it stepped up recruitment in other departments, the TikTok operator said.

Alibaba hired an extra 9,000 new staff at its core businesses last year despite some internal adjustments as the e-commerce giant overcomes challenges amid changes in the external environment, it said.

Baidu’s staff numbers remain unchanged, it said.

Editor: Kim Taylor