Tens of thousands of overworked employees have left their jobs at China's largest tech companies in recent years, as the industry lost its growth momentum
- As of the end of 2023, China's BAT - Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent - had a combined total of 364,477 employees, a drop of nearly 25,000 from a year before X: @jeff4malaysia and @tomorrownook X: Jeff Ooi / @jeff4malaysia : Beyond ‘Tang Ping’. China's many overworked employees are quitting to become entrepreneurs amid internet slowdown. By end 2023, China's BAT - Baidu, Alibaba & Tencent - had a YoY drop of 25,000 employees compared to its combined total of 364,477. Why? https://www.scmp.com/... @tomorrownook : Overwhelmed Chinese techies are ditching the corporate grind to chase their entrepreneurial dreams as internet restrictions tighten. Time to say goodbye to the 9-9-6 work culture and hello to hustle! 🚀 #TechRevolution #DreamChasers https://www.scmp.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This workforce contraction extends a multiyear shift: Baidu and Tencent were already freezing headcount and restructuring as growth slowed in 2019, while the subsequent downturn and regulatory pressure brought mass job cuts across China’s tech sector.
It also follows worker resistance to the industry’s demanding norms, including a younger cohort’s push against forced rankings and “996” working conditions. The latest attrition matters because it combines reduced corporate capacity with employees’ stated turn toward entrepreneurship.
First-order effects
- Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent enter the period with a combined workforce of 364,477 at the end of 2023—nearly 25,000 fewer than a year earlier—reducing the employee base at China’s largest internet companies.
- Departing workers gain a stronger incentive to seek work outside the major platforms, including the entrepreneurship path described in the report, rather than expect renewed expansion at incumbent employers.
Second-order effects
- Smaller and newer companies can draw on experienced talent leaving the largest platforms, while BAT must compete for remaining workers without the hiring momentum that previously underpinned expansion.
- The exits reinforce the operational reset begun when large firms faced layoffs amid the downturn and tech crackdown: growth plans increasingly have to fit tighter headcount rather than assume continual recruiting.
Third-order effects
- If departures persist, China’s internet sector could shift from a small set of rapidly expanding employers toward a more fragmented talent market in which startup formation absorbs more experienced workers.
- The pattern suggests that labor conditions and slower growth are becoming strategic constraints on platform companies, not merely a cyclical staffing adjustment; whether startups can provide durable alternatives remains uncertain.
The trend: China’s tech industry is moving from platform-led headcount expansion toward a tighter, more entrepreneurial allocation of experienced talent.