Senior management at China's Trip.com to take pay cuts

[BEIJING] China's largest online travel firm Trip.com said on Monday that senior management of the company would take a pay cut of up to half their salary to cope with the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to an internal letter reviewed by Reuters.

Trip.com is the first big Chinese corporation to announce a salary cut to combat Covid-19, as China is expected to post its slowest economic growth in decade.

Trip.com chairman James Liang and CEO Jane Sun will stop taking salaries from March onwards, the internal letter says, adding merit increases for most employees will also be put on hold until the situation improves.

"Compared with other players in the industry, Trip.com has the strongest liquidity reserve," Ms Sun wrote in the letter.

"As we look to the future, we should hope for the best, but prepare ourselves for the worst," she said.

The coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 3,600 people and spread to over 60 countries globally, has caused panic and led to a large number of trip cancellations. 

REUTERS