Chinese electric vehicle brand Byton recently sent an email to its employees in North American office, stating that the company would implement a layoff in the US office before June 30, 2020 and the wage arrears would also be paid before June 30.

According to the email, its US office will keep R&D related intellectual properties and operation positions. Those core employees have received a separate notice from the vice president of the unit.

Rumor has it that Byton has been delaying payments to employees. It is said that on April 1, the company announced a salary delay plan to all employees. Byton said that due to the impact of COVID-19 to global economy, the company's external operation environment faced a huge change and the management team decided to temporarily postpone salary payments to reduce short-term fixed cost, so as to handle the impact of economic downside risk. The plan is effective from April 1 to July 31, 2020.

An insider revealed that so far, Byton has owed about CNY100 million, which is about four months salaries, to employees in China.