(Yicai Global) Aug. 9 -- Tencent Holdings has dismissed a Jiemian report that the Chinese internet behemoth will let go the bulk of staff at its short video service Weishi as Tencent’s video platforms start to further integrate after being merged earlier this year.

“The news about Weishi's plan to downsize its team and sack employees is false,” Shenzhen-based Tencent said in a statement yesterday.

Earlier the same day, Jiemian had reported that Tencent plans to lay off 70 percent of Weishi’s employees as a result of its merger with Tencent Video, the firm’s long video platform. The remaining staff would be moved to other departments and positions at the firm, the report said.

A new round of consolidation is underway at Tencent’s online video business unit, though the individual platforms will continue to develop independently, the company’s statement added.

Tencent formed the business unit in April by merging Weishi, Tencent Video, and app store Yingyongbao in a bid to catch up with Kuaishou and ByteDance’s Douyin, TikTok’s sister app in China. Further integration just four months later suggests Weishi is declining in strategic priority, itself a reflection of Tencent trailing behind the leaders of the short video field.

Tencent invested CNY3 billion (USD463 million) in 2018 to attract talent to create viral content for Weishi. But the gap with Douyin is not just about viral videos, it is also about technologies such as algorithms, data-driven models and middle ground support, according to a source in the industry.

Weishi had 53.9 million monthly active users in June, far below Douyin's 702.9 million and Kuaishou's 427 million, per figures from Analysys's big data platform Qianfan.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione