Will Global Easybuy go bankrupt in September? 151 employees were laid off

The account blocking wave triggered a reshuffle in the Amazon industry, and the Shenzhen sales landscape began to reorganize. In addition to this change, Shenzhen Global Easy Shopping, the former "number one cross-border e-commerce company", also seemed to have come to an end.

According to internal sources, Global Easy Shopping notified about 150 employees this week that they would be on leave and required them to sign a resignation agreement before the end of August, but the salaries and compensation of the employees were not paid properly. "After this wave of layoffs, Global Easy Shopping is estimated to have only a few dozen people left," said one of the laid-off employees. In September, Global Easy Shopping may complete its bankruptcy.

Global Easy Shopping notifies 151 employees of "holiday"

On August 24, an employee of Global Easy Shopping, Gong Yue, approached Yien.com and dropped a shocking news.

Cheng Yue said: "Universal is now laying off about 159 employees, including pregnant women. At the same time, they are not paying July wages, saying they will wait until the company goes bankrupt on September 30 and the funds are unfrozen before paying N+1. We are not sure whether the company will really go bankrupt or whether it will really have the money to pay. Now they are asking us to sign a resignation agreement and compensation agreement before August 30, and to suspend our employment with pay starting August 24. This is all illegal."

(Revelation by the person involved Cheng Yue)

After talking with Cheng Yue, the editor learned the whole story.

On August 23, Global Easy Shopping issued a "Notice on Holidays for Some Positions on August 24, 2021". The notice stated that due to the difficulties in the operation of the enterprise, the company has decided to put some positions on holiday on August 24, 2021, and the return time will depend on the company's operating conditions. It also listed a list of 151 people on holiday, and Cheng Yue was one of them.

(Global notifies the list of staff on holiday)

Another former Global Easy Shopping employee also confirmed the news, "It's true."

Which departments are the people being laid off mainly from? Cheng Yue said that the company will select a few people from each department to stay, and most of the others will be laid off. "The company wants to lay off us, and then terminate the labor contracts of Global Easybuy with the remaining part of the people, and re-sign labor contracts with ZAFUL. They will probably transfer to ZAFUL to continue working in September."

On August 23, Global Easy Shopping held an internal meeting on employee layoffs. In the recording of the meeting provided by Cheng Yue, a manager, Zhang Qiao, said that the company's business had little recoverable funds and basically no income, so they had to propose this staff placement method. "During this layoff process, we will definitely not be able to pay salaries for July and August. We have no cash to pay."

Cheng Yue said that the company should have paid July's salary on August 15, but it has not been paid yet. "Those on the list have not been paid, but the dozens of people not on the list are said to have had a meeting yesterday and will be paid this week."

Not only were their salaries not paid, but the severance compensation issues for the employees on the list were also not resolved. A "Labor Relationship Termination Agreement" received by Cheng Yue showed that: 1. Party B completed the handover procedures for resignation before _ month _ year; 2. Party A agreed to pay Party B a lump sum of RMB _ yuan, which would be paid within five working days after the company's bankruptcy ruling and the lifting of the company's frozen account.

(Part of the agreement)

However, this is not the final version of the compensation agreement, and the content of the agreement is still being revised. Zhang Qiao once said that the wages for July and August would be included in the agreement as unpaid wages items. In addition, the N+1 compensation for employees' length of service and maternity allowances for pregnant and childbearing employees would also be included in the termination agreement.

Some employees questioned why the company terminated their contracts before bankruptcy was confirmed, and how pregnant women in special periods could find jobs. Zhang Qiao said frankly that she really had no other options, and the company had no other options either. If there were any options, it would not have taken so long.

Since there is no money, how can Universal pay these wages and compensation? Zhang Qiao said that Universal has about 30 million yuan in frozen funds in its account. After the bankruptcy ruling, the account will be unfrozen and the funds will be used to pay the unpaid wages of employees.

"The company requires us to sign all the documents before the end of this month. We have to sign the resignation meeting form first before they are willing to let us sign the agreement. In other words, if we sign this, it means we are willing to resign automatically." Cheng Yue said that as of the 25th, she and some of the people on the list were still working at Global Easybuy.

Regarding the layoffs of about 150 employees and the requirement to sign a resignation and compensation agreement before August 30, the editor consulted a staff member of Global Easy Shopping. After asking where we got the news, the other party said, "We are currently working with the company's leaders to determine the final caliber." But in the end, the staff member replied, "I don't know the specific situation."

Global Easy Shopping may go bankrupt in September

Why did Global Easy Shopping set the date for payment of wages and compensation as September 30?

Zhang Qiao explained to his employees: "I consulted the lawyer who handled our bankruptcy case and he gave us a date of September, which would basically complete the matter, so I set the deadline to September 30."

He said bluntly: "In fact, we don't need to worry about whether this bankruptcy can be executed, because the company is unable to pay wages now, and I can't come up with a second funding plan. So even if everyone does not sign this agreement now and directly takes legal action to claim that Global Easy Shopping did not pay your wages, the result will be the same."

Cheng Yue and other colleagues who were laid off were worried: whether the company would go bankrupt as expected, whether the frozen funds could be unfrozen, and whether they would be used to compensate employees or for other purposes after being unfrozen.

It is understandable that Global Easy Shopping asked its employees to take leave due to bankruptcy and operational difficulties. However, it also required employees to resign, stopped paying wages, and intended to pay compensation after bankruptcy. Is this operation reasonable?

The editor consulted with Daxin Law Firm lawyer Chen, who said that the company does not have the power to force employees to sign resignation agreements and other documents to resign, and employees can choose not to sign. Even if the company is eventually declared bankrupt, it is still required to pay a certain amount of economic compensation when terminating the labor contract according to the law.

This breakup may not be a decent one. An insider said frankly: "These poached employees should just wish them the best, because I don't think their offers will come true."

Some employees pointed out that Universal did not specify in the agreement how it would be held responsible or how compensation would be increased if it was not paid and compensated by September 30. Zhang Qiao responded: "The law has its own regulations, why should I add them? The termination agreement states that so much salary will be paid on September 30, and that is the promise." In response to the employee's question of "what if it is not paid by then", Zhang Qiao said: "You can take any path you want, legal path, or you can wait."

Cheng Yue conveyed the demands of the laid-off employees to Ennet: "The employees who were asked to suspend their salaries this time include those who are pregnant, giving birth, or breastfeeding. They may not be able to find a job in the next six months or even a year and face survival issues. We hope that the company leaders can assume basic responsibilities and arrange for the wages owed to employees."

The cross-border hero is fading

In the past, Global Easy Shopping was also very successful.

In 2014, Global entered a period of rapid development, with revenue reaching 1.416 billion yuan, a 7-fold increase from 2012. That year, Global Easy Shopping, which was gaining momentum, was spotted by the listed company Baiyuan Pants Industry and acquired for over 1 billion yuan. In June 2015, "Baiyuan Pants Industry" was officially renamed "Kuaidongtong", becoming the first cross-border e-commerce company listed on the A-share market.

(Screenshot from Global Easy Shopping’s official website)

With the support of capital and the overall positive development of e-commerce, Global Easy Shopping's revenue exceeded 10 billion in 2017 and 2018, accounting for 81% and 58% of the parent company's total revenue. Today, Global Easy Shopping's official website still states that it is "China's leading cross-border e-commerce company, the number one cross-border export B2C, and daily shipments exceed 200 tons."

The current situation of the once glorious cross-border leader is regrettable.

According to public information, Global Easy Shopping's parent company Cross-border Link lost about 2.7 billion yuan in 2019 and 3.374 billion yuan in 2020, of which Global Easy Shopping, the main source of revenue, lost 2.95 billion yuan. In the past two years, Global Easy Shopping's revenue has fallen sharply, from 8.506 billion yuan in 2019 to 5.629 billion yuan in 2020. Its business is still declining sharply in the first half of this year.

Currently, Global Easy Shopping's total debt has reached 3.379 billion yuan. Since the second half of 2019, suppliers and logistics companies have been blocking the door to demand debts. According to Global Easy Shopping employees, the company owes more than 3,000 suppliers a total of about 450 million yuan, and owes logistics about 300 million yuan, totaling more than 700 million yuan.

On June 18, Global Easy Shopping received a court notice that the creditor, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Shenzhen Nanshan Branch, had applied to the Shenzhen Intermediate Court for bankruptcy liquidation of Shenzhen Global, on the grounds that Global Easy Shopping could not repay its due debts and clearly lacked the ability to repay. The news shocked everyone, and Global Easy Shopping had finally reached a critical point.

Global Easybuy employees are leaving along with the company's decline. At its peak, Global Easybuy had about 5,000 employees, but in 2020 the number of employees dropped from 3,353 to 885, a 3/4 reduction. Cheng Yue told the editor that after this wave of layoffs, Global Easybuy is expected to have dozens of people left, and these people will later transfer to SAFU.

A few years seem like a lifetime. Whether Global Easybuy will enter bankruptcy liquidation procedures is still a major uncertainty, but the debts it owes have caused many suppliers and employees to suffer. Until now, a large number of suppliers are still stationed at SAFU, waiting for a debt collection result.

Currently, Global Easy Shopping has set up a special debt clearance working group to solve historical problems. However, it is still unknown when the suppliers and employees can get the money they owe.

(At the request of the parties concerned, Cheng Yue and Zhang Qiao are both pseudonyms in this article . )