Alibaba to sell gaming arm for US$1.5 billion in boost to AI pivot: Bloomberg

ALIBABA Group Holding is selling its gaming arm in a deal worth at least US$1.5 billion that will boost the Chinese e-commerce leader’s pivot to AI.

Asian private equity firm Trustar Capital has reached an agreement to acquire Lingxi Games, according to an internal memo distributed on Monday (Aug 17) and reviewed by Bloomberg News. “Alibaba is handing Lingxi to Trustar due to better focus on its strategic priorities,” said Zhou Bingshu, chief executive officer of Lingxi Games, without disclosing the size of the deal.

The transaction may value the studio at more than US$1.5 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Aug 14. Alibaba and Trustar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alibaba is undergoing a broader corporate reorganisation under chief executive officer Eddie Wu, divesting non-core assets while making artificial intelligence and cloud computing a top strategic priority with the aim of reaching US$100 billion in AI revenue in five years.

In August, Alibaba released its biggest ever AI model, claiming performance on par with global leader Anthropic in the latest Chinese breakthrough to challenge US rivals.

Lingxi’s flagship and top-grossing game, Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition, is a massive multiplayer online strategy title developed in partnership with Japan’s Koei Tecmo Holdings. BLOOMBERG