As China’s regulatory crackdown slows down deal-making, Alibaba Group is reducing its internal investment team by over 30%, according to sources.
As a result, the strategic deals team, which consists of more than 110 people, will be reduced to about 70. Mid-level and senior employees based in mainland China will be the majority of those laid off.
In February, Alibaba started laying off workers in other business sectors; as a result, about 39,000 workers altogether may lose their positions at the company.
Tencent, the main competitor of the internet giant, plans to fire thousands of employees as well. Alibaba and Tencent were recently hit with fines by Chinese regulators for breaking anti-monopoly regulations regarding transaction transparency.
ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, also disclosed changes to its investment teams in January. The organization’s internal venture capital and investing group, which supports deserving entrepreneurs, was subsequently abolished.
