technology
Alibaba Reduces Headcount by 34% in 2025; Baidu and BYD Report Smaller Cuts
Chinese tech companies Alibaba, Baidu, and BYD reported significant workforce reductions in their annual filings at the end of March 2026. The cuts reflect broader economic pressures and a shift toward AI investments, mirroring trends in U.S. firms. Tencent, however, increased its head count by 5% during the same period.
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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reduced its head count by 34% in 2025, according to its annual report filed at the end of March 2026. Baidu, operator of China's biggest search engine and video-streaming service iQiyi, ended 2025 with nearly 7% fewer employees.
Electric-vehicle maker BYD cut roughly 10% of its workforce during the same year, with the reductions disclosed in annual reports from all three companies.
Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma and operates platforms including AliExpress, Taobao, and Tmall. A former Baidu employee, laid off from the marketing department in March 2026, said the company cited financial pressure as the reason for her dismissal. She added that Baidu has been cutting people in non-core departments since last year.
BYD laid off part of its frontline production staff, administrative teams, and sales department in 2025, even as it accelerated hiring for research and development roles by nearly 5%. Tencent, best known for its super-app WeChat and a major player in the video gaming industry, reported a 5% increase in head count in 2025, bringing total staff to 115,849.
A former Tencent executive said the company has been simultaneously hiring and firing since the pandemic in 2020, with hiring now focused more on fresh graduates.
Claire Deng said Chinese tech companies froze hiring in 2022 but noted an uptick in the past year due to new business opportunities driven by the AI boom. She stated there has been a surge in hiring related to AI-agents and physical AI products, while some jobs on the frontline are already being replaced by AI.
