(Yicai Global) March 19 -- Tech titan Tencent Holdings has begun to trim one-tenth of its mid-level management in a follow-up in the company's third organizational shakeup, after this was announced in an internal staff meeting in December.

Several sources confirmed this development with online tech media 36Kr. The company has thus far not responded to the news.

The Shenzhen-based firm's middle management mainly includes assistant general managers, deputy general managers and general managers, but some vice-presidents may also be at risk.

The company has about 200 such staff, of whom about 20 will fall in this round of restructuring, but the ratio may be even higher, said a staffer in Tencent's strategic development department.

"It is unprecedented in Tencent's history" for so many middle management workers to leave the company, many of them are veteran employees who have served the firm for more than a decade, said one staffer in the corporate development group.

Tencent has kept a low profile on the personnel cull, however, making no corresponding announcement or statement, though some commemorative articles posted by departed workers have flooded Tencent employees' WeChat account recently.

Hit List

The restructuring will involve Tencent's Platform and Content Group, Cloud and Smart Industries Group, Corporate Development Group and other business groups, as well as functional units and Technology and Engineering Group, per the report, but did not provide a complete list.

Unlike cab-hailer Didi Chuxing, takeaway express Meituan Dianping, and internet firm NetEase's previous hatchet jobs on entry-level employees, Tencent's pruning has not unleashed any storms on social networks and news media.

Only a small proportion of workers will leave Tencent with its much larger headcount, for one thing, and those departing are all mid- and high-level managers or project and team leaders with rich experience, who care more about their career and professional reputation after leaving Tencent than fits of histrionics.

Other Chinese new economy giants have also cut management jobs.

E-commerce mammoth JD.Com confirmed it was letting 10 percent of senior executives go in the same period as Tencent's restructuring.

Tech behemoth Baidu announced last week it is instituting an executive retirement plan, for which President Zhang Yaqin became the first applicant. He will retire in October.

Alibaba Group Holding also adjusts its organizational structure almost every year.

Several of these companies have denied the cuts and instead claimed to be hiring, so these streamlining moves may be a smokescreen for infusing younger, fresh blood, at least in some cases.

Editor: Ben Armour