Alibaba Freezes Hiring As Company Has 'Developed Too Quickly'

Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA fell over 3 percent Wednesday amid news that the company had implemented a hiring freeze.

Executive Chairman Jack Ma commented that the freeze would apply to the rest of 2015 as the company had grown “too quickly,” according to a Reuters report.

"Alibaba has really developed too quickly ... this year our entire group headcount will not go up by one person,” Ma stated.

At the end of 2014 the company had 34,081 employees, a 63 percent increase from a year earlier, the report noted.

Ma indicated that employees who left the company during 2015, however, would be replaced.

Alibaba is scheduled to report Q1 earnings on May 7.

Alibaba recently traded at $82.27, down 3.3 percent.