(Yicai Global) May 10 -- IQiyi has responded to a claim made online that the Baidu-backed video-streaming platform has laid off as much as 20 percent of its workforce in Shanghai after the company's net loss more than doubled last year.

IQiyi is going through a normal optimization of its workforce, and not cutting jobs, state-backed The Paper reported yesterday, citing the Beijing-based firm. 

The company's denial came in response to a user's post on China's LinkedIn-like careers website Maimai yesterday that said iQiyi's layoff ratio in Shanghai was between 15 percent and 20 percent. It also follows a steady stream of speculation, denials and announcements about redundancies at other Chinese tech firms, which kicked off with Tencent Holdings in early March.

IQiyi reported a net loss of CNY9.1 billion (USD1.34 billion) for 2018 due partly to heavy investment in content as well as research and development. Total revenue was CNY25 billion, while its new registered users count jumped 72 percent to 36.6 million.

The Nasdaq-listed company's shares [NASDAQ:IQ] fell 0.2 percent yesterday to close at USD21.51, the lowest since early February.

Editor: Emmi Laine