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China’s Alibaba Group is laying off over a third of staff in its in-house deals team after Beijing’s regulatory crackdown sharply slowed the e-commerce giant’s dealmaking pace.
The company is planning to reduce its strategic investment team of over 110 people, which is mainly based in mainland China, to about 70, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The report said Alibaba has already informed a bulk of staffers of their redundancy, and the job cut will mainly involve mid-level and senior people in China.
Chinese regulators launched an extraordinary campaign in late 2020 to rein in the country’s internet companies after years of a laissez-faire approach that drove growth and dealmaking at breakneck speed.
On Sunday, regulators at Beijing imposed the latest fines on Alibaba and Tencent and a range of other firms, for failing to comply with anti-monopoly rules on the disclosure of transactions, the report said.
Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma’s Alibaba, was one of China’s most active corporate investors, built an ecosystem of portfolio companies across sectors including retail, local services and media and entertainment, and on average made about 44 investments every year between 2015 and 2021.
The e-commerce behemoth has attracted talents from major Wall Street banks and private equity funds, including veteran Goldman Sachs dealmaker Michael Evans, over the years to strengthen its in-house dealmaking capabilities.
Picture Credit: CNBC
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