Over a hundred former Amber employees collectively seek redress: laid off without severance, company executives "disappear"
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Over a hundred former Amber employees collectively seek redress: laid off without severance, company executives "disappear"
"We brothers—over a hundred of us who were laid off—have yet to receive the severance pay we're entitled to!"
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights"Over a hundred of us who were laid off still haven't received the severance pay we're entitled to!"
Multiple former Amber employees laid off in November have complained to TechFlow, revealing that they have not received their agreed severance payments by early December as stipulated in their contracts. More troubling for them is the fact that they can no longer reach relevant senior management at Amber. All they receive are vague responses from HR. Furthermore, the company’s offices within China were completely vacated on December 5, with all staff transitioning to remote work, heightening fears among ex-employees that the company may be fleeing and leaving them without rightful compensation.
Some disgruntled employees seeking redress even left messages on the Weibo account of Michael Wu, founder of Amber, expressing their grievances—but received no response.
“It's common knowledge throughout the company—everyone sees how (Michael Wu and his wife) live extravagantly, yet here we are fighting for our rights,” one former employee bitterly remarked.
Former Amber employee Kris said there are several things making him uneasy.
First, he cannot contact any senior management. The founder has reportedly blocked or deleted many former employees from social media contacts, leaving only HR and current staff to relay inquiries—yet no clear answers about when severance will be paid.
On December 6, HR stated, "The delay is due to bank foreign exchange settlement issues; we are also waiting for finance to confirm the payment timeline."
Second, changes to the legal entity operating within China and the sudden closure of physical offices have further eroded their sense of security.
Kris explained that previously, they had signed employment contracts with Shenzhen xxxx Technology Co., Ltd., the domestic legal entity of Amber. However, on November 22, the legal representative of this company was replaced with someone none of them knew.
On December 5, an internal email announced that all mainland China employees would transition to working from home, meaning they could no longer locate anyone in person.
With no other recourse, many former employees have resorted to calling the police. But when officers arrived at the former office location, they found it completely abandoned.
Currently, numerous affected employees are pursuing labor arbitration.
According to a Bloomberg report on November 4, Amber Group is raising over $100 million at a $3 billion valuation. The company was valued at $3 billion in February when it raised $200 million in funding led by Temasek Holdings, with participation from Sequoia China, Pantera Capital, Tiger Global Management, True Arrow Partners, and Coinbase Ventures.
According to former employees, they have learned that Amber Group has already secured part of this new financing. They urge company leadership to provide clear communication and promptly disburse the severance pay owed to laid-off staff.
TechFlow has reached out through multiple channels to Amber representatives but has not yet received a response. We will continue to monitor the situation.
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