The e-commerce giant Shopee confirmed the news of mass layoffs related to ShopeeFood and ShopeePay. Shopee's operations in a number of countries were also affected.
The Straits Times Singapore as seen on Wednesday (15/6/2022) revealed a memo from Shopee CEO Chris Feng issued at the end of Monday. He said Shopee made a number of adjustments.
"Made some adjustments to optimize our activities in certain segments and markets," said Chris Feng.
Affected by the layoffs were some ShopeeFood and ShopeePay employees in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and the cross-border team for Spain. Economic conditions are the reason for Shopee to carry out this mass layoff.
"Due to heightened uncertainty in the broader economy, we believe it is wise to make the difficult but important adjustments to improve operational efficiency and focus our resources," he said.
Shopee employees have been notified of this mass layoff at an international meeting on Monday. Those who have been laid off have been sent an email.
Shopee has also stopped their business in Spain. Previously, Shopee also stopped their business in France and India in March 2022.
Even though there were mass layoffs for some of its employees in Latin America and Southeast Asia, Shopee confirmed that it would continue to operate as usual. They promise uninterrupted service to partners, merchants and consumers.
"Our business will continue to operate as usual in Shopee Mexico, Argentina, Chile, as well as for ShopeeFood and ShopeePay in Southeast Asia," he concluded.
From Chris Feng's explanation, it is still not detailed how the impact specifically for the Southeast Asian region. We have tried to contact Shopee to confirm this.