Alibaba says to hire this year, refuting layoff rumours

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Alibaba Group is seen at its office in Beijing, China, January 5, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Thursday it planned to hire 15,000 people this year, dismissing rumours circulating on Chinese social media in recent days that the company planned to cut 20% of its workers.

In a post on the firm's official Weibo account, Alibaba said that among the 15,000, more than 3,000 people would be newly-graduated students.