Alibaba opens new global headquarters in Hangzhou, China on annual family day
- The complex, spread over nearly 1 million square metres of floor area, contains smart and green features and a football field
- In China, shiny office buildings of Big Tech companies often become landmarks in the cities where they exist
The new complex, comprising seven buildings spanning nearly 1 million square metres (10.7 million square feet) of floor area, has enough office space to accommodate 30,000 employees, according to local media reports. It is the largest campus of Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post.
On Thursday, a day before Alibaba’s annual family and employee celebration known as AliDay, the company republished on the online forum of its flagship e-commerce platform, Taobao, a post written by co-founder Jack Ma in 2004.
“The biggest beneficiaries of a true, great and outstanding e-commerce website should be its users, and its biggest builders should also be its users,” Ma wrote, drawing many new comments after Alibaba revived the forum recently.
Alibaba’s top executives were not seen at the new office launch, which coincided with AliDay, when families of employees are allowed to visit the company. The event comes days before the firm releases results for its financial year ended March 31.
The campus, which contains smart and green features, a football field and other sports facilities, will serve as Alibaba’s global headquarters.
