Tencent employee fired, blacklisted after posting year-end bonus details online

A Tencent employee has been fired after posting details of a year-end incentive package worth about 3.17 million yuan ($468,000) on social media, with the Chinese tech giant citing the leak of confidential company information.

According to Chinese outlet Jiemian News and other media on Friday, Tencent recently dismissed a project manager surnamed Ye from its WeChat division on charges of leaking confidential information and added the employee to a blacklist that permanently bars rehiring.

The incident began when Ye posted details of his year-end incentive on social media.

A year-end income statement that spread online showed a total performance bonus of about 3.17 million yuan — comprising roughly 820,000 yuan in cash and approximately 2.35 million yuan in share incentives.

Ye reportedly received the payout after earning the top rating of "outstanding" twice in last year's performance reviews. Tencent's performance evaluation system has three tiers — "outstanding," "good" and "unsatisfactory" — with the top rating reportedly reserved for only the top 10 to 20 percent of employees on a given team. Year-end performance bonuses are typically equivalent to about six months' salary, according to reports.

The controversy over the internal leak erupted when it emerged that the statement circulating online contained a watermark identifying Tencent as its source.

Tencent launched an investigation after receiving a tip and determined that Ye had disclosed confidential company information externally, violating internal information security regulations.

The company said the case falls under the "information security violations and confidential information leaks" clause of its internal ethics code, and announced it would immediately dismiss Ye while also imposing additional disciplinary measures under its managerial misconduct rules.

Meanwhile, Tencent detected more than 70 internal regulation violations last year, resulting in the dismissal of more than 90 employees. Of those, more than 20 were found to have committed criminal offenses, and more than 30 were referred to public security authorities after their involvement in criminal activity was confirmed.