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FPT CEO Do Cao Bao said a widely circulated claim that “FPT reduced 26,000 employees in 15 months” is false and has been removed by the outlets that published it.
Speaking at the group’s annual general meeting on 16 April 2026, Bao said the CEO had directly stated that FPT has not laid off any employees due to AI. Despite this, many people continued to question where the “26,000” figure came from, including whether employees had been laid off or had resigned voluntarily.
To clarify the issue, Bao explained that within the FPT ecosystem there are three entities using the FPT brand—FPT Telecom, FPT Retail and FPT Trading—while the group’s ownership in these companies is under 50% (between 43% and 48%). These entities are legally associates, not subsidiaries.
Under Vietnamese accounting standards, when preparing consolidated financial statements, the parent company is not allowed to consolidate the associates’ revenue and headcount. However, profits from associates are still included in the consolidated results.
Bao said that in some media reporting, FPT has published revenue and headcount figures that include the three associates, with headcount stated at 80,000. In contrast, in FPT’s 2025 consolidated report prepared under the relevant accounting standards, the group deducted the associates’ headcount, resulting in 54,100.
He said that some people then took the headcount figure including associates (80,000) and subtracted 54,100 (excluding associates), arriving at a difference of 26,000 and concluding that FPT had reduced headcount by 26,000. This is how articles with titles such as “FPT cuts 26,000 employees” emerged.
According to Bao, the actual consolidated headcount movement in 2025 shows an increase: including the associates, FPT added 2,298 people, rising from 83,693 to 85,991, with no reduction.
After the CEO’s statement at the annual meeting that “FPT has not laid off anyone due to AI,” Bao said many people still did not believe it and instead relied on the “26,000” figure they had read.
He described this as “clear evidence of a bias,” saying that once people believe AI takes workers, they assume FPT’s headcount must fall rather than rise.
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