(Yicai Global) Dec. 2 -- China's Tencent Holdings intends to issue about 24 percent of its workers HKD2.1 billion (USD270 million) worth of shares to attain talents via the internet giant's third employee equity incentive program this year.

Tencent will grant 4.4 million shares to at least 25,700 employees, the Shenzhen-based firm said in a statement yesterday. The WeChat operator had about 107,300 employees as of Sept. 30, according to its third-quarter earnings report.

The game developer's stock price was 0.5 percent up at HKD471.20 (USD60.50) this morning, equaling a sum of around HKD80,000 (USD10,265) per employee if the shares were divided equally.

The move is based on an equity incentive plan the firm passed in 2019. Tencent will grant up to 2 percent of its shares outstanding as incentives to its employees in the next 15 years, per the plan.

Before this, Tencent has engaged in two stock incentive programs this year amid the intensifying competition for talent in the internet sector. The latest one was in July, involving giving 2.4 million shares to at least 3,300 employees. In February, the firm granted a special contribution award of 100 shares per person to most of its workers.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi