(Yicai Global) Dec. 29 -- Wanda Network Technology Group is struggling to survive after Wang Jianlin set high expectations for it.

WNT started slashing jobs with the aim of reducing its workforce to 300 from 6,000, and the company will only retain functional departments, state-backed online news outlet The Paper quoted a source as saying yesterday.

"Leaders announced layoffs this morning," the source said. "They, together with human resources staff, called in employees separately and told us that we will have to leave, whether we sign the agreements or not as the company will unilaterally terminate the contracts. If we do not sign, they will send the agreements to our home addresses. More than 1,000 workers have been notified. The company has not only suspended its projects but also defaulted on payments to suppliers."

"They said signing or not signing the agreements makes no difference, and there was no official notification or e-mail," the source added. "Human resources staff talked with workers one by one about the agreements and told them they were just among the few to be laid off. Even leaders have been told to leave. The company asked fired leaders to talk with ordinary employees. All the businesses of Wanda Network Technology will be cut. Many people joined the company because it claimed that it would offer an annual salary equivalent to 16 times their monthly wages."

A list of employees who signed resignation documents that The Paper saw includes workers who had been at WNT for more than a year and ones who joined in April and May.

WNT is part of Wanda Group Co.'s efforts to transform its businesses. WNT has four business segments -- digital commerce, smart life, fintech and public cloud services.

Wang said at Wanda's 2016 annual meeting that the group had approved WNT's five-year capital plan, under which the company would strive to become profitable by 2018 and have over CNY10 billion of profits by 2020 with the goal of listing.