(Yicai Global) Jan. 5 -- Shares in Kuaishou Technology slumped today after it was reported that the Chinese short video platform is engaging in a large-scale downsizing of its workforce.

Kuaishou’s share price [HKG:1024] closed down 7.53 percent at HKD67.55 (USD8.67) apiece today.

Kuaishou is axing up to 15 percent of its e-commerce team and around 30 percent of its push algorithm team, The Paper reported yesterday, citing staff members. There will also be redundancies in its gaming division and its new acquisition, the video platform AcFun. It comes just a month after the firm scaled down its commercialization department.

The notice was sudden, one employee said, adding that they were told to leave by the end of last year in order to qualify for an extra month’s compensation, or to depart by the end of January to get a regular severance package of one month’s pay for each year employed.

Staff members whose contracts are terminated before the end of the year also do not qualify for year-end bonuses or stock equities, employees said.

Kuaishou’s layoffs are part of a year-end optimization that mostly targets staff who missed key performance criteria, The Paper reported last month, citing a company insider. But many of those let go were told by the firm’s human resources department that it was "not for performance-related reasons,” the report said.

The company’s third-quarter net loss shrank 75 percent to CNY7.1 billion (USD1.1 billion) from a year earlier, according to its latest earnings report. Revenue rose 33 percent to CNY20.5 billion (USD3.2 billion), beating an expectation for CNY20.1 billion.

Editor: Kim Taylor