One Championship retrenches staff

One Championship, one of the largest mixed martial arts (MMA) organisations in the world, has retrenched employees on Oct. 16, including those from its Singapore headquarters.

The company told The Straits Times it "made the difficult decision to lay off a few dozen" staff as part of plans to be profitable in the coming months.

About 20 staff were reportedly let go, but the figure is unconfirmed.

They were reportedly from the broadcast, e-sports, finance, marketing and public relations departments.

The company has between 201 and 500 staff worldwide, according to its LinkedIn page.

It also has offices in Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, London, Shanghai, Milan, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and Bengaluru.

Temasek Holdings is one of its institutional investors.

Virtual meeting announcing cuts

A virtual meeting was held with staff from all its offices on Oct. 16 morning, helmed by One CEO Chatri Sityodtong announcing the cuts.

He had told staff that if they were affected, they would receive a call from their respective department heads,

An email by Chatri read: “Please know that your leaders and I weighed this difficult decision with painstaking detail and heartfelt empathy.”

The layoff was attributed to the challenging macroeconomic environment, while the “capital markets continue to demand immediate profitability and profit maximisation”.

Group One Holdings, the company behind One Championship, raised at least US$50 million from investors, including Qatar Investment Authority, giving it a valuation of at least US$1.35 billion, according to Bloomberg.

This is not the first time One Championship has laid off staff.

It cut 20 per cent of its staff worldwide in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Top photo via One Championship