Alibaba (HK:9988) on Thursday dismissed rumors that it planned to cut a large percentage of its workforce and instead stated it plans to hire 15,000 people this year.
Rumors circulating on Chinese social media in the last few days said BABA was planning to cut 20% of its workers.
However, in a post on its official Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) account, Alibaba reportedly said that out of the 15,000 new hires, over 3,000 would be newly-graduated students.
According to a report by Reuters, in its Weibo post, Alibaba said: "Talent movement is what all enterprises have been doing. In Alibaba, talents have been coming in and out, moving normally."
Reuters also stated, citing sources, that Alibaba's cloud unit has begun a round of layoffs that will impact 7% of staff as it streamlines its business to prepare for an IPO.