Chinese Company Fires Employee After Rs 4.5 Crore Salary Package Leaks Online

Companies often keep employee salaries and benefits confidential to avoid workplace tensions, maintain privacy, and prevent competitors from luring away top talent. But for one Tencent employee in China, the leak of his multimillion-yuan pay package ended up costing him his job. According to the South China Morning Post, Tencent dismissed an employee identified only by his surname, Ye, after details of his annual compensation package surfaced online and quickly spread across Chinese social media.

Salary details went viral

Ye worked as a project manager in Tencent's Weixin Group, the team behind WeChat, China's widely used messaging and super app with more than 1.3 billion users.

A screenshot believed to have been taken from an internal company platform revealed that Ye's annual compensation was about 3.17 million yuan (around Rs 4.5 crore). The package reportedly included a cash bonus of more than 820,000 yuan (about Rs 1.17 crore) and stock incentives worth over 2.35 million yuan (around Rs 3.35 crore).

The figures quickly became a hot topic online, with many users debating executive pay, employee privacy, and how confidential company information had made its way into the public domain.

Fired over disclosure of confidential information

According to an internal company notice seen by three Tencent employees, Ye was dismissed for sharing sensitive corporate information with external parties. The company said the leak had caused a serious negative impact both within Tencent and outside the organisation.

The notice also stated that Ye has been permanently barred from future employment at Tencent. The company is expected to issue a formal disciplinary notice detailing the action taken against him.

Tencent tightens compliance

Tencent has strengthened its internal compliance efforts in recent years.

In its annual corporate report released in January, the Shenzhen-based company said its anti-corruption team uncovered more than 70 compliance violations in 2025. More than 90 employees were dismissed as a result of those investigations, while over 20 cases were referred to law enforcement for criminal prosecution.

Under Tencent's compliance rules, employees are prohibited from disclosing confidential information, including trade secrets, internal communications, unreleased source code, and employee records.