Alibaba sells gaming arm for $1.5 billion to fuel AI shift
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is divesting its gaming division in a transaction valued at a minimum of $1.5 billion, which will enhance the Chinese e-commerce leader’s transition toward artificial intelligence. Asian private equity firm Trustar Capital has finalised an agreement to acquire Lingxi Games, as indicated in an internal memo circulated on Monday. “Alibaba is handing Lingxi to Trustar due to better focus on its strategic priorities,” stated Zhou Bingshu, while refraining from revealing the size of the transaction.
The transaction may value the studio at over $1.5 billion, as reported. Alibaba is currently engaged in a comprehensive corporate reorganisation led by Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu. The company is divesting non-core assets and prioritising artificial intelligence and cloud computing as key strategic focuses, with the ambitious goal of achieving $100 billion in AI revenue within five years.
This month, Alibaba unveiled its largest AI model to date, asserting that its performance rivals that of global leader Anthropic PBC, marking a significant Chinese advancement aimed at competing with US counterparts. Lingxi’s flagship and top-grossing game, Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition, represents a significant entry in the massive multiplayer online strategy genre, developed in collaboration with Japan’s Koei Tecmo Holdings Co.
