If the reports coming from China are to be believed, then the smartphone maker Meizu is in deep waters. As per the report, which cites the company’s employees, Meizu carried out a new round of layoffs and the heavily hit department was marketing.
The report, citing Meizu insiders, says that the company has laid off more than 30 percent of its workforce this year so far and is now left with just around a thousand employees. Meizu has also confirmed that its well-known systems engineer Hong Hansheng has also left the Chinese company.
On the other hand, Meizu, which was touting itself to be a competitor of Huawei and was focusing on expanding its offline presence, seems to be backing down. The company, which had over 2,700 offline stores at its peak in 2016, is now left with just 5 or 6 such stores in one province.
As we recently reported, Li Nan, co-founder and Vice President of Meizu, resigned from the company earlier this month. In the memo shared publicly, he said that he had started taking fewer responsibilities following the launch of the Meizu 16. He did acknowledge that the company is facing challenges but believes things will get better as long as they do not stop improving.
While Li Nan hasn’t specified what his next step would be, he has revealed that he is still focused on the consumer market and developing new brands. While departing from Meizu, he thanked his co-workers, investors, and shareholders.
The Blue Charm brand was being headed by Li Nan while Bai Yongxiang became the CEO of the flagship Meizu brand. Huang Zhang was leading the product design efforts. Hong Hansheng, on the other hand, was leading the Flyme OS development. While all was good, the company couldn’t compete with the top OEMs in terms of sales.
Meizu was co-founded by Li Nan along with Bai Yongxiang who is the current CEO, and Huang Zhang (Jack Wong). Initially, the company was started as an MP3 player manufacturer before switching to phones in 2008. While the company’s portfolio is now diverse, smartphones remain Meizu’s major source of revenue. Last year, Meizu also celebrated its 15th anniversary.
(Via)
