Exposed to large-scale layoffs, Autohome responded: less than 5%, strategic adjustment is in progress

On December 29, a social platform reported that Autohome (02518. HK) initiated company-wide layoffs, accounting for 10% to 20% of the total. On the same day, all departees are compensated, N+2/N+1+1.8, including year-end bonus compensation. There are also self-media that the scale of layoffs is more than the number of people spreading news on the Internet.

In this regard, the relevant person of auto home said in an interview with the "China Times" reporter: There is no large-scale layoff, which belongs to the normal business structure and the optimization of the assessment personnel at the end of the year, and the number of personnel involved is less than 5% of the number of employees in the company.

Behind the personnel adjustment

According to the data, Autohome was founded in 2005, positioned as an online service platform for auto consumers in the early days, and then transformed from a content-based vertical company to a data- and technology-driven automotive platform, and currently mainly provides services for auto consumers, automakers and dealers. As the world's leading automobile consumption and service website, Autohome has more than 45 million daily active users and more than 400,000 Nissan consumption clues. In March this year, Autohome was listed on the main board of Hong Kong stocks, becoming the fourth Chinese-listed Internet company in China to complete listing in Hong Kong and the United States after Alibaba, JD.com and NetEase.

At present, Autohome is indeed laying off employees, but Autohome people told reporters that this personnel adjustment, in addition to the last personnel of performance appraisal, is mainly based on the needs of strategic upgrading and business structure adjustment, and integrates similar business lines that were originally scattered in various departments to enhance the C-end user experience and product competitiveness for B-end customers.

In September this year, at the Autohome 2021 Investor Open Day, Long Quan, chairman and CEO of Autohome, said: "Autohome will be fully integrated into Ping An's car ecological strategy, and it is necessary to combine autohome's accumulation in the vertical field of automobiles over the years, while combining the resources and capabilities of Ping An TO C and TO B to solve the pain points of all parties and help China's car ecology flourish." ”

Since the beginning of this year, the personnel of autohome has changed frequently, and many senior executives have left. In January this year, Lu Min, chairman and CEO of Autohome, retired, in May Autohome co-president Zhang Jingyu resigned for personal reasons; in July Autohome Chief Financial Officer Zou Jun also resigned for other personal reasons; in October Autohome CTO Wang Xiao and Autohome director Liu Dong also resigned for other personal reasons.

For the frequent changes in management, Longquan once told the "China Times" reporter: "This is a normal change, the former chairman reached the age and retired honorably." And some executives have served in Autohome for more than four years, Autohome is an Internet company, in the process of rapid development of the Internet, service for four years, should be a normal state of change. As far as autohome is concerned, there is a relatively complete disposal structure, that is, the development of any business or project is improved by the whole team, so the impact of individual departure on our business is very limited. At the same time, we are also selecting some excellent comrades in the middle of the entire industry to join Autohome. As the auto home itself, we must also continue to strengthen the operation and management work to create a wolf-like hard work and agile execution of the Internet team. ”

Implementation of the "ecological" strategy

In the context of the downturn in the entire automotive industry, the performance of Autohome has also been affected to a certain extent. According to the third quarter financial report released by Autohome, the revenue during the period was 1.764 billion yuan, down about 24% year-on-year; Net profit was RMB522 million, down 38% year-on-year. It can be seen that the current performance of Autohome is facing certain pressure. However, it is remarkable in the performance of user data. Analysys data shows that from the first quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2021, from the mobile terminal data, Autohome maintained a leading position in the quarterly average active users and daily active users, while EasyCar and Zhichedi ranked behind. In terms of lead data and connection rate, Autohome is the first.

QM2021 Panoramic Ecological Traffic Annual Insight Report shows that in the Q4 2021 China Mobile Internet Strength Value List, Autohome ranked third among panoramic ecological traffic players after Sina News and Mango TV.

At present, in addition to autohome, the vertical platform of the automotive industry also includes easy car and understand car emperor. In the face of competition, Autohome has also begun to adjust its strategy. According to reports, in September this year, Longquan proposed a new company strategy called "ecology". Specifically, with the help of the advantages of the two major platforms of Autohome and Ping An, we will provide comprehensive services to end consumers, OEMs, and automotive entities, including dealers. At the same time, Longquan proposed to build the strongest auto media influence in China, to influence 50% of new car sales in China, and to pursue three major goals, such as more diversified revenue. Autohome insiders told reporters.

In addition, with the proposal of the ecological strategy, a number of senior executives have joined the autohome. In October this year, Yang Song, former deputy general manager of Ford China Ford Brand Passenger Car Division, joined Autohome as vice president of the company and general manager of the oem business unit, fully responsible for the company's OEM business; in November, Wu Jiang, former general manager of OPPO Internet service system video business, joined the company and served as senior vice president, at that time, Wu Jiang will be fully responsible for autohome's C-end business.

From the perspective of resume, Wu Jiang is one of the earliest user growth experts in China, and has rich experience in user growth, user retention, user activity and commercialization of the whole process business. Yang Song has served as a senior management in well-known automobile companies such as Dongfeng Nissan, North American Nissan, and Borgward Automobile, and has rich experience in automobile marketing and enterprise management, and has a full understanding of market and customer needs.

The above-mentioned Autohome insider told reporters: "Behind this personnel adjustment is the autohome restructuring the organizational system based on the new strategy and business. In the past year, with the strategic iteration and the change of coaching points, Autohome is trying to revitalize itself. ”

Responsible Editor: Li Yan'an Editor-in-Chief: Yu Jianping