Samsung Electronics Co reportedly will cut 20 percent of its staff in China to improve its operations, amid a crisis resulting from its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.
Samsung has seven units covering 32 provincial-level regions in China, with thousands of employees. The Central China branch may be merged into other branches and the tech giant will cut 20 percent of the staff in almost every department, starting in December, domestic news portal thepaper.cn reported on Sunday, citing an unidentified employee.
Samsung declined to comment when contacted by the Global Times on Monday.
Widespread media reports about Note 7 phones catching fire led Samsung to stop sales of its flagship model, and in October it announced a recall of 190,984 Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold in the Chinese mainland.
The company's profit plunged 29.7 percent year-on-year to 5.2 trillion won ($4.4 billion) in the third quarter, as the crisis cut the earnings of its mobile division, the Xinhua News Agency reported in October.
