China\'s Didi to restructure following passenger murders

China's Didi to restructure following passenger murders

AFP  |  Shanghai 

Chinese ride-hailing leader Chuxing will streamline operations and make cuts to non-core business units as it doubles down on safety after the murders of two passengers clobbered its image, a source familiar with the plans told AFP.

told staff in an internal meeting on Friday that about 2,000 employees, or 15 percent of current staff, would be laid off as part of the reorganisation, primarily in business lines outside main ride-hailing operations, the source said.

However, Cheng said would make around 2,500 "new hires" this year in the areas of safety technology, product engineering, management and international operations.

It was not clear which business lines would be affected, but also provides and

Didi's are used by hundreds of millions of customers in

But the company came under intense criticism after two young female passengers were murdered last year by drivers using Didi's Hitch carpool service, which links up commuters travelling in the same direction and is not part of its main ride-hailing platform.

Didi apologised, suspended Hitch and strengthened its safety features. The firm muscled out of in 2016 after a bruising turf battle. It now claims more than 31 million drivers and 550 million users across its various services.

Didi declined comment when contacted by AFP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, February 15 2019. 17:06 IST