NetEase Technology News reported on August 26 that 58.com CEO Yao Jinbo issued an internal letter to all employees saying that in the face of more difficult and challenging times from the market, companies should consider long-term and ultimate value. He said, "I mentioned at the annual meeting in early 2019 that we will not lay off people this year, but it does not mean that we will not eliminate people or replace people. One specific way is that we will demote or remove 10% of our vice presidents before the end of the year."

The following is the full text of the internal letter:

Dear students,

On August 22, we released the first half financial report of 58.com, which is also our half-year report card. It should be said that we have exceeded our commitment to the market as a whole, and we would like to thank all students for their hard work and dedication. But like most Chinese companies, we cannot survive alone in today's uncertain economic downturn. There is no doubt that in the second half of the year, almost all Internet companies will face challenges from the development of the overall market and vertical industries, and the small and medium-sized enterprise customers we serve are hardly exceptions.

In the future, it should be said that all walks of life may face a situation where growth is slowing down and it is more difficult to acquire customers. In a world competing for inventory, improving operational efficiency will become more important than ever. We proposed "improving efficiency for all employees" at the end of last year. I saw that many departments have issued military orders to follow through on their words and challenge their respective ultimate goals. Indeed, in the current environment, it is no longer enough for each of us to do as well and work as hard as before. Only when every person and every department strives with more innovative methods and a more "All in" state can truly sustainable power be formed.

In 2018, another theme we proposed is "Service Advancement". This year we need to consider the long-term/ultimate value of our existence in the context of the large industries of real estate, recruitment, used cars, and life services. In the two years since 58.com announced the grouping of its BG business, I have seen students from various BGs in 58.com continuously and truly delving into the industry, thinking about what customers want, caring about what customers feel, reacting quickly, and achieving success for customers. The more difficult times are, the more time we have to fulfill our mission, and it is also the time when customers need true friends the most.

Our services have made great strides forward. While we provide training services to our customers, we are also training our customers' new employees. We are developing more efficient SaaS tools for various industries; we are changing communication methods from relying solely on telephone contact to becoming more and more online, real-time and video-based; we are even helping customers take over their customer service.

We have tens of thousands of people connected with customers day and night. In every enterprise, every store, every real estate community, and every second-hand car market, we use professional services such as the Internet, big data, and AI to improve the operational efficiency of the industry, allowing merchants one after another to obtain business opportunities, recruit employees, gain insight into the future, make better decisions, and serve their customers well.

The goal of our efforts is to allow customers who choose to believe in us to survive and develop well, to let our services warm the hearts of each customer, and to spread this warmth to the entire society. Everyone in 58.com today, you are directly or indirectly affecting the development and contentment of millions of companies and hundreds of millions of users every day, and I believe that there is nothing greater than this in the world.

Live and work in peace and contentment, this is the most concise summary of the services we provide to the society. When I go home very tired at night, I often open the 58 tribe to see the feedback from users from all walks of life and their wishes, which always warms my heart. Each one is aliveUsers find jobs here and survive in the city; small businesses develop one by one, followed by their families and their employees. This responsibility and trust is too heavy. User dissatisfaction and complaints always make me full of fighting spirit.

The launch of product and service measures one after another, the continuous evolution of technology again and again, the continuous accumulation and interweaving of data layer by layer, and the relay efforts of our classmates one after another. To become a "life service platform that everyone trusts" may take the next ten years or even a hundred years to continue to advance, but every day we can take a step forward and become a little better.

I hope more and more of us understand that the causes and visions we choose and invest in are more important than ourselves. When we have struggled, grown, and become fulfilled, we have also accomplished ourselves and made our family happier. This year, we will more strictly identify people who are dawdling in the organization and people with wavering thoughts, and let them step aside so that young people who want to promote changes in the industry can be quickly promoted. Recently, our organization department has promoted directors who are in their twenties, and many people have been promoted to two levels in a row - I really hope there will be more and more people like this. This is also the decision I am most happy to make.

I mentioned at the annual meeting in early 2019 that we will not lay off employees this year, but that does not mean that we will not eliminate or replace people. One specific approach is that before the end of the year, we will downgrade or ask away 10% of the vice presidents, and the other levels will be similar. Campus recruitment will start soon this fall. Our recruitment scale is similar to last year, and we hope to recruit better new students. We are working non-stop in promoting young cadres and introducing outstanding talents.

Today’s Internet is in a fully competitive market environment. We must stay alive, provide services in the longer term, and continuously improve the bottom line standards of the industry. Business lines must have a sharper response, take the initiative to fight, and proactively find and define opponents, instead of waiting for others to find and challenge us.

The progress of this world is driven to some extent by anxiety and competition, as is everyone’s growth. Whenever we have anxiety and then take action to resolve the anxiety, the entire process is an iterative process of personal and organizational growth.

The essence of facing the competition is actually - we use lower costs to provide better services than any competitors, understand customer needs better and respond faster, and use better technical means to achieve it. As long as there are service modules and product features that can help customers develop better, they should be within our field of vision. Our first response to customer needs is "YES". We should not be afraid of difficulties and cumbersome troubles.

Of course, for students in the company's middle and back offices and various functional departments, this paragraph also applies to you, because your customers are the various front-office BGs - have we provided better and more efficient services this year? Have we given more warmth to business departments so that they can pass it on to customers? Only when our customers live better can we live better. This is almost an eternal truth.

In short, no matter how the world changes, we must live. We live to help more and more users and customers develop better and better, and to welcome a better future after the storm!