Layoffs in Hong Kong

Cathay Pacific announced on Saturday that it will cut about 2% of its scheduled passenger flights from mid-May to end-June 2026, and its budget arm HK Express will cut about 6% from May 11, citing soaring jet fuel costs triggered by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Chinese AI firm SenseTime has reportedly conducted another round of layoffs across multiple departments, with affected employees being asked to leave within a week. This marks the company's second major downsizing in less than a year. According to sources cited by Caixin, the smart city group division saw a workforce reduction of 10% to 15%. The layoffs occur as SenseTime, a Hong Kong-listed company under U.S. sanctions, continues to operate at a loss, having incurred over RMB 40 billion in deficits over the past five years. The company is also actively competing in the development of large language models, having launched its SenseNova model in April. By the end of 2022, SenseTime's total employee count had already decreased by more than 1,000, a decline of 16.6% from the previous year.

Crypto market maker GSR laid off staff in the third quarter of 2022, cutting less than 10% of its global workforce as part of structural changes to improve efficiency. With approximately 300 employees, this reduction impacted a portion of the team amid a prolonged crypto market downturn. The company stated the move was to position the business for long-term growth, focusing on technology and trading capabilities while navigating the challenging industry winter that has affected many crypto firms.

Amber Group representing approximately 10% of its workforce on 2022-09-09.

Bullish laid off 30 employees representing approximately 8% of its workforce on 2022-07-05.

Fintech firm Oriente reduced its workforce by 20% in a series of layoffs beginning in the fourth quarter of 2019 and continuing into 2020. The cuts, announced in early May 2020, were part of a broader restructuring effort, though the exact number of employees affected and the total company headcount were not specified. The move reflects the challenging economic conditions and strategic adjustments faced by many companies in the fintech industry during that period.

Klook, a SoftBank-backed travel activities booking platform, laid off at least 83 employees, primarily from its Customer Experience and Business Development departments, as indicated by a recently launched talent directory. This follows a larger round in April 2020, when over 300 employees were laid off or furloughed after the company's revenue plummeted by up to 90% due to the global travel halt. While it's unclear if this directory represents a new round or the earlier one, the company cited having to part with great people. Klook has since seen a rebound by focusing on staycation demand.