Contrary to recent reports, Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding announced that it is set to augment its workforce by 15,000 new hires within this year. The announcement came in the wake of news that it would reduce the number of employees at its cloud unit by 7%.
According to a recent post on the company’s official Weibo account, Alibaba declared that many of the rumors floating online regarding layoffs of up to 25% of the company’s workforce were not true. The company added that talent is constantly flowing in and out of its organization, and that 3,000 recent graduates will be among its fresh hires this year.
Minimal Downsizing
In reality, only Alibaba’s cloud computing unit will be affected by any layoffs as around 1,000 workers will be stricken off its rolls in preparation for an initial public offering over the next twelve months.
Such layoffs are rarely publicized in China and any large-scale removals are referred to as an act of business restructuring – and, in Alibaba’s case, the company is going through some serious restructuring.
Earlier this year, the company announced its plans for its largest restructuring initiative which include its reorganization into six independent entities that will seek to raise funds by way of individual IPOs. In the case of its cloud computing unit, it will be transformed into an independent, publicly-listed entity by way of a stock dividend distribution among its shareholders.
