To this day, the incident of Xiuyu Co., Ltd. (601799.SH) "humiliating and forcing out" new graduates continues to ferment.
On September 3, a report by CNR.cn stated that the "Human Resources Director" mentioned in a previous announcement by the Changzhou Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau was not found in the management team list and internal job hierarchy publicly disclosed by Star Universe (星宇股份), with no such position existing.
Meanwhile, the company's workforce has plummeted from over 10,000 people at the end of 2024 to more than 7,500 people at the end of 2025, with both revenue and profit declining in the second quarter of this year.
Behind the management turmoil, this leading automotive lighting company is undergoing a significant shift from expansion to contraction.
Who is the Suspended HR Director?
A new question mark has emerged in the recent turmoil surrounding Xingyu Shares, focusing on the company's suspended "Human Resources Director".
On August 25, the Changzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau issued a notice stating that Xingyu Co., Ltd. recruited 440 college graduates for the class of 2026, but terminated labor contracts with 107 of them. After investigation, it was found that the company's negotiation process was overly simplistic and lacking in effective communication, resulting in a negative impact. Xingyu Co., Ltd. has suspended its Human Resources Director.
By September 3, a report by CNR.cn stated that upon reviewing the list of directors and senior management disclosed in the recent Hong Kong IPO prospectus of Xingyu Shares, the position of "Human Resources Director" was not found.
The prospectus shows that 47-year-old Li Shujun is the executive vice general manager of Xingyu Shares, mainly responsible for business operations and human resources management.
According to the official website of Xingyu Shares, the company's disclosed management hierarchy is "junior staff - team leader, group leader - director - department head - deputy general manager", and does not include a "director-general" level.
Multiple employees of Xingyu Shares also told reporters from China National Radio that the company's internal job title system does not use the term "Director".
However, on September 3, a person from the investor relations department of Xingyu Shares told Red Star Capital Bureau that the deputy general manager is a high-level executive disclosed to the outside, and the "Human Resources Director" is at a higher level than the minister, and the relevant person has been suspended, but it's not convenient to disclose who it is.
A Xi'an Aerospace employee also revealed to Red Star Capital Bureau that the company does not have a "Human Resources Director" title, only a head of the Human Resources Department, Li.
The aforementioned media reports made the person in charge of human resources in the incident more obscure. According to publicly available information, the person who appeared multiple times as the head of the Human Resources Department of Xingyu Shares is actually someone else.
According to a press release in December 2024, Changzhou Institute of Technology held an opening ceremony for the 2024 Xingyu On-site Engineer Class, where Zhou, Director of Human Resources at Xingyu Company, made a speech.
However, photos from the scene show that Zhou is the Director of the Human Resources Department of Xingyu Shares, rather than the "Human Resources Director" mentioned in the press release.
On March 30, in a press release issued by the Zhejiang Province Mold Industry Association, Zhou was also identified as the director of the Human Resources Department of Xingyu Shares.
However, according to a report by Red Star Capital Bureau, the head of the Human Resources Department at Xingyu Shares has been replaced by Li.
This means that Zhou had previously stepped down from the position, but the exact time of his departure is unknown, and whether it is related to this incident of cancelling contracts with new graduates is also not publicly confirmed.
In addition, aside from being the Minister of Human Resources, Zhou had also served as the company's trade union chairman, with his current status in this role unknown.
A post on the Xingyu Shares WeChat public account shows that on June 1, Mr. Zhou, as the chairman of the Xingyu Shares trade union, participated in a related event.
According to inquiries, the Qichacha platform shows that the legal representative of Changzhou Xingyu Car Lamp Co., Ltd. is Zhou, whereas the Tianyancha platform indicates that the person in charge of the company's trade union committee (legal representative) is Qu Wenjuan, with the two being inconsistent, suggesting that one of the platforms' information may not have been updated in a timely manner.
Notably, Zhou is not a short-tenured employee, but rather a veteran staffer who has worked in the human resources department at Xingyu Shares for over 15 years.
A 2011 announcement by Xingyu Shares revealed that Zhou was the deputy head of the company's human resources department and, as a mid-level manager, became an incentive target of the 2011 restricted stock plan.
The company announced in January 2012 that Zhou was granted 43,800 restricted shares at a grant price of 9.61 yuan per share, with a cost of approximately 420,900 yuan. If the shares have been held to date, based on the September 3 closing price of Xingyu Shares at 74.88 yuan, the market value would be approximately 3,279,700 yuan.
In general, there is an inconsistency between the publicly disclosed title of "Human Resources Director" and the actual internal rank within companies.
The identity of the suspended personnel, their specific position, and whether it refers to the aforementioned Zhou, remain to be clarified by Xingyu Shares.
Massive Layoffs After Large-Scale Expansion
Compared to the mystery surrounding the "HR Director" identity, what is more noteworthy is the change in the number of employees at Star Universe (星宇股份) behind this fresh graduate controversy.
During the 2025 fall recruitment season, Xingyu Shares heavily recruited research and development, technical, and management trainee positions for recent graduates, with a recruitment scale of approximately 400 people, including master's degree holders from 985 universities and non-Double First Class universities. At the time, the company promised graduates that after about a month of on-site training, they would be transferred to technical and other positions.
However, after formally joining the company in July, the graduate encountered a concentrated meeting with the company's HR department after only about a month. The HR department presented two options: voluntarily resign, sign a "personal reasons" resignation agreement and receive half a month's salary as compensation; or refuse to resign, be transferred to the front line to engage in assembly line work such as wire plugging (commonly known as "screw tightening"), with the original one-month production line internship extended to three months, and the salary recalculated according to the standard for operational workers.
Audio recordings provided by the graduates involved show that during the persuasion process, the HR representative also hinted: "A group of over 400 HR personnel has been established in Changzhou, and as long as you cooperate and sign, you won't be affected by the subsequent background check." Ultimately, around 70% (nearly 300 people) of the new graduates chose to sign and leave. However, the official report finally confirmed that 107 labor contracts were terminated.
On August 27, Xingyu Shares issued an apology, acknowledging that the company made mistakes in its decision-making and management, and that the execution process was poorly communicated, with simplistic methods that failed to fully consider the personal interests of the graduates. The company pledged to provide 107 graduates with a three-month job-seeking living allowance, free accommodation, and job recommendations; if they still have not found employment by the end of November, the company will provide six months' worth of salary as compensation.
In fact, looking at the longer timeline, it can be seen that changes in the human resources structure of Xingyu Shares have already emerged.
Annual report data shows that from the end of 2022 to the end of 2024, the company's total number of employees increased from 7,376 to 10,426, with an increase of 3,050 people over the two years, representing a growth rate of over 40%. Among them, production personnel more than doubled from 3,650 to 7,911, while technical personnel decreased from 2,649 to 1,734, and administrative personnel also decreased from 414 to 49.
By 2025, the expansion trend suddenly reversed. The company's total number of employees decreased from 10,426 to 7,532, a reduction of 2,894 people, or 27.76%, in one year. The number of production personnel dropped from 7,911 to 4,729, a decrease of 3,182 people, with a decline of over 40%.
Meanwhile, the scale of labor outsourcing has expanded significantly. In 2022, the company's total labor outsourcing hours were 2.384 million hours, reaching approximately 10.8742 million hours by 2025, representing a growth of about 3.56 times; the total labor outsourcing compensation increased from 65.7273 million yuan to approximately 302 million yuan, growing about 3.60 times.
This change in personnel structure is in sync with the changes in the company's operating performance.
From 2022 to 2025, Xingyu Shares' revenue was 8.248 billion yuan, 10.248 billion yuan, 13.253 billion yuan, and 15.257 billion yuan, with net profits of 941 million yuan, 1.102 billion yuan, 1.408 billion yuan, and 1.624 billion yuan, maintaining consistent growth.
However, growth has come under significant pressure this year. In the first half of 2026, the company achieved revenue of 6.884 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth of only 1.87%; net profit attributable to the parent company was 669 million yuan, down 5.26% year-on-year; and the net cash flow from operating activities was 991 million yuan, down 17.30% year-on-year.
In particular, in the second quarter, Xingyu Co., Ltd. reported revenue of 3.454 billion yuan, down 5.7% year-over-year, and net profit attributable to the parent company of 314 million yuan, down 18.26% year-over-year. In the first quarter of this year, the company's revenue and net profit still grew by 10.84% and 10.26%, respectively. By the second quarter, both revenue and net profit declined, with growth momentum almost completely reversing.
The company explained in its semi-annual report that sluggish domestic sales of passenger vehicles, lower-than-expected sales of some supported models, and rising prices of some raw materials all contributed to the decline in profitability.
As a veteran auto lamp company founded in 1993, Xingyu Co., Ltd. was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in February 2011, with its main products covering headlamps, rear combination lamps, intelligent interactive auto lamps, and auto lamp electronic controllers.
After years of development, the company's client list includes mainstream automakers such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Li Auto, NIO, and BYD, and has established production and R&D bases in countries including Germany, Mexico, and Serbia.
The company's rapid expansion over the past few years is closely tied to the prosperity of the automotive industry chain and the growth of customer orders.
Star Universe is currently facing a slowdown in business growth while entering a critical phase of its Hong Kong IPO.
The company first submitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January this year and resubmitted it on July 29; on August 14, it announced that it had received a registration notice from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for overseas issuance and listing, allowing it to issue no more than 44.8 million H shares.
It is at this juncture that the controversy over "humiliating and forcing out" new graduates continues to ferment, and has further drawn the attention of downstream automakers such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.
On September 1, Volkswagen China stated that it had launched a special investigation into the relevant complaints. On the same day, BMW said it had paid attention to the situation and was in communication with its suppliers.
Mercedes-Benz had previously responded to the allegations through its Corporate and Personnel Protection Office (BPO) and stated that it would forward the report to an expert team for further review.
On September 2, Xingyu Shares Chairman and General Manager Zhou Xiaoping apologized again at an online performance briefing, stating that the company will re-examine and rectify its employment system and processes.
The impact on Xingyu Shares' Hong Kong IPO process remains to be seen, but the internal power struggle that has unfolded within the company has now been fully exposed to the public, regulators, and supply chain clients.
Properly wrapping up and restoring market trust will undoubtedly be a significant test for Xingyu Shares, which is currently facing pressure from declining performance.