Alibaba lays off nearly 10,000 employees in three months amid sharp drop in net income

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has fired around 10,000 employees in three months amid sluggish sales and a slowing economy in the country. The layoffs follow Alibaba's June 2022 disclosure of a 50% decline in net income, as per media reports.

The e-commerce firm let go of over 9,241 employees during the June quarter. According to the reports, the company trimmed its overall headcount to around 245,700. Following a 50% decline in net income in June  to 22.74 billion yuan (USD 3.4 billion) in the June quarter, down from 45.14 billion yuan in the same period last year. These indicate an effort to reduce costs in the face of declining national economic growth and poor sales.

Alibaba, founded in 1999, when Ma selected Daniel Zhang as chairman in 2019 and transferred the CEO responsibilities to him in 2015, they underwent a significant reorganisation. According to the sources, Alibaba revealed plans to seek for a primary listing in Hong Kong in July, opening the company up to a sizable pool of mainland Chinese investors for the first time. 

Media reports stated that earlier in July, Alibaba revealed plans to submit an application for a primary listing in Hong Kong, opening the company available to a sizable pool of mainland Chinese investors for the first time. The move from New York to Hong Kong  would see Alibaba become the first large company with primary listings there.

Alibaba's CEO Daniel Zhang said that the company was pursuing another primary listing venue to foster a "wider and more diversified investor base".

Alibaba formerly enjoyed the love of investors in technology stocks but the e-commerce giant's stock price fell as a result of Beijing's broad crackdown on the private sector, which resulted in a USD 2.8 billion fine for the business and derailed Ant's initial public offering (IPO).