Chinese tech firm Alibaba has fired around 10,000 employees. The layoffs come after Alibaba reported a 50 percent drop in net income in June. These are an effort to cut expenses amid sluggish sales and a slowing economy in the country.
The tech company fired more than 9,241 employees during the June quarter. According to the reports the company trimmed its overall headcount to around 245,700.
The company reported a 50% drop in net income to 22.74 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) in the June quarter, down from 45.14 billion yuan in the same period last year.
That put the total decrease in employee numbers for Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, to 13,616 over the six months to June, marking the firm’s first drop in payroll size since March 2016, as per the report.
The reduced payroll reflects Alibaba’s renewed efforts to cut expenses and drive up efficiency, as it faces continued regulatory pressure, sluggish consumption, and a slowing economy in China, the world’s biggest e-commerce market, the report added.
Alibaba Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang Yong said the company will add nearly 6,000 fresh university graduates to its headcount this year.
Alibaba was founded in 1999. The company went through a major reshuffle when Ma passed the baton as CEO to Daniel Zhang in 2015 and further appointed him as Chairman in 2019.
According to sources, The billionaire Jack Ma was reportedly under pressure from government regulators to relinquish control of Ant Group last month.
The move is intended to be a part of the fintech giant’s effort to distance itself from subsidiary Alibaba Group Holding, which is the subject of intense government scrutiny.
Chinese regulatory authorities have increased their pressure on local digital behemoths like Alibaba and Ant Group since last year in an effort to break up their monopoly in the internet industry.
The report claims that Ma might give up influence by giving some of his voting rights to other Ant executives, such as Chief Executive Eric Jing.
