Alibaba freezes executive pay rises amid China’s big-tech crackdown: report

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding has frozen pay raises for senior executives in 2021 and is instead giving junior staff bigger salary increases, sources said, in an effort to preserve its workforce amid a regulatory clampdown.

Hundreds of top-tier executives at Alibaba are not entitled to salary hikes this year unless they performed extraordinarily, four sources familiar with the matter said.

“Talent is Alibaba Group’s most important asset. We have a robust and competitive compensation system that reflects our priorities in cultivating our next generation of talents,” Alibaba said in a statement to Reuters. It did not directly comment on the pay freeze for executives.

Alibaba, which employed more than 252,000 staff as of 2020, usually decides pay rises for most individuals in April.

The Hangzhou-based company has still offered considerable pay rises to junior staff, said the people, declining to be named as they were not allowed to speak to media.