Benzinga | Jan 4, 2021 03:29AM EST

Pinduoduo Faces Scrutiny As Employee Dies Working Past Midnight

Pinduduo Inc (NASDAQ:PDD) is under scrutiny after an employee died after working past midnight last week, Bloomberg reported Monday.

What Happened: The company faced criticism online after it disclosed the death of the employee on Monday, according to Bloomberg.

A hashtag related to the incident reportedly drew 150 million views on Sina Weibo, a service similar to Twitter Inc's (NASDAQ:TWTR) platform run by Sina Corporation (NASDAQ:SINA).

Why It Matters: The grueling schedule is locally known as 996 -- from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, not including overtime -- has been endorsed by tech leaders in China such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) founder Jack Ma and JD.com, Inc (NASDAQ:JD) CEO Richard Liu, noted Bloomberg.

The backlash against Pinduduo comes at a time when China is stepping up regulation of its tech companies.

See Also: Alibaba Regulatory Woes A 'Nirvana Set Up' For FAANG Stocks, Says Analyst

Price Action: Pinduoduo shares closed 0.8% lower at $177.67 on Thursday and gained 1.14% at $179.70 in the after-hours session.