The headquarters of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo by Niu Jing/For China Daily]

Chinese tech heavyweight Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced on Thursday night it plans to hire 15,000 people this year, refuting rumors circulating on social media platforms in recent days that the company planned to lay off 20 percent of its staff.

Alibaba said on its official WeChat account that among the 15,000 people, more than 3,000 people will be fresh graduates.

Talent movement is what all enterprises have been doing, the company said, adding in Alibaba, talents have always been coming in and out and moving normally.

Alibaba announced in its earnings report last week that it has approved a full spinoff of its cloud intelligence unit as well as external financing for its international digital commerce unit.

The cloud business, a main growth driver alongside e-commerce, will be listed in 12 months, said Zhang Yong, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group.

In addition, Alibaba expects the listing of Freshippo, its supermarket chain, will be completed in the next 6 to 12 months, while it is targeting completion of the IPO for its logistics arm Cainiao Network in the next 12 to 18 months.

fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn