Samsung said to slash 8% of sales team in mainland China amid weak performance

This marks the start of a broader restructuring that would potentially cut up to 30 per cent of Samsung’s mainland workforce by next year.

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Shoppers at a Samsung Electronics store, next to other smartphone retailers, inside the Xidan Joy City Shopping Centre in Beijing. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:02pm, 4 Sep 2024

Samsung Electronics has notified employees in mainland China of a restructuring that will eliminate about 130 positions – equivalent to 8 per cent of domestic sales staff – according to South Korean media reports, as the company continues to grapple with sluggish smartphone and television demand in the world’s second-largest economy.

This marks the start of a broader restructuring initiative that would potentially cut up to 30 per cent of Samsung’s mainland workforce by next year, the Seoul Economic Daily reported earlier this week, citing a company official.

Samsung – the world’s largest smartphone vendor the past two quarters, according to research firm IDC – has already begun accepting voluntary resignations, the report said. Samsung is expected to pursue selected lay-offs in case the number of voluntary terminations falls short of its target.

In a statement to Chinese digital media outlet Jiemian, Samsung’s China unit said the staff adjustment aims to improve operational efficiency and strengthen market competitiveness. “The company plans to eliminate redundant positions to better allocate resources and enhance organisational performance,” the statement said.

Exterior view of Samsung Tower, the headquarters of Samsung Electronics’ mainland China unit, in Beijing. Photo: Shutterstock

The size of Samsung’s major local offices in Beijing, Nanjing and Xian has contracted in recent years owing to weak business performance, with research departments last year seeing lay-offs or non-renewal of contracts, according to a former Samsung China employee, who declined to be named because the matter has not been made public.

According to a Samsung report, the company’s workforce in China peaked at 63,316 employees in 2013. By early 2022, that number had fallen to fewer than 20,000.