Alibaba cuts dozens of employees from its metaverse division
Chinese technology giant Alibaba has laid off dozens of employees from its metaverse unit, Yuanjing, in a move that reflects changes in the technology sector and metaverse-focused investments.
The layoffs mainly affected employees at Yuanjing's operations in Shanghai and Hangzhou, marking a moment of restructuring for the company.
According to sources linked to Alibaba, the reorganization seeks to optimize resources and improve the efficiency of the metaverse unit. Despite the staff cuts, the company plans to keep Yuanjing operating, but with a more focused focus on applications and tools for the metaverse, as well as services based on this technology.
“The market is undergoing changes and, like other companies, Alibaba seeks to realign its investments to make the best use of resources,” commented an analyst close to the sector.
Metaverso
Alibaba's decision comes at a time when other large Chinese technology companies, such as Tencent and Baidu, are also reevaluating their strategies for the metaverse.
Tencent, which became heavily involved in the metaverse in 2021, faced challenges related to regulating user data and content. Baidu, in turn, has redirected part of its resources to artificial intelligence, which has received more attention and investment recently.
This change of strategy in the metaverse sector also reflects a slowdown in public interest and economic difficulties. In parallel, Meta's metaverse division, Reality Labs, reported significant losses of US$4.4 billion in the third quarter, highlighting the difficulties of monetizing the metaverse.
Reality Labs accumulates significant losses, which shows that technology companies around the world face challenges when trying to explore the potential of this market.
The cryptocurrency sector, which often follows technological innovation trends, closely observes these adjustments by large companies in the metaverse. With the interest of technology companies turning to AI and other fields of practical application, the future of the metaverse and its integration with digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies, is still uncertain.
Yuanjing, which received billions of yuan in investment from Alibaba, had to adapt to this new reality, adjusting its operations to keep up with market demands and local regulations.