Fangda, Haiwen advise on Alibaba’s USD1.5bn Lingxi Games sale – Law.asia

Alibaba has agreed to sell its entire stake in gaming studio Lingxi Games to Trustar Capital for more than USD1.5 billion in the largest gaming sector acquisition in China this year. Fangda Partners and Haiwen & Partners have provided legal support.
Fangda acted as Alibaba’s legal counsel, led by partner Norman Zhong, with the assistance of partner Zhang Hao.
Haiwen counselled Trustar Capital, with partner Gu Jieni leading the team and counsel Lu Bing also involved.
Lingxi Games CEO Zhou Bingshu said in an internal letter that Alibaba’s sale was “part of its broader strategy to sharpen its strategic focus”. He and the management team will remain in their roles, while Trustar Capital will become the company’s new shareholder.
Since Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu announced in February 2025 that the group would invest more than RMB380 billion (USD56.5 billion) in cloud and AI hardware infrastructure during the following three years, its departure from the gaming sector was logical as it was considered a non-core segment. Alibaba has in recent years sold non-core businesses including Intime Retail and Sun Art Retail, raising nearly RMB20 billion.
Lingxi Games is a leading Chinese digital interactive entertainment company focused on the development and publishing of premium games, with representative titles including Three Kingdoms Tactics, Three Kingdoms: Fantasy Land and Ashes of the Kingdom. Formerly known as Ejoy Technology, the company was acquired by Alibaba for RMB1 billion in 2017 and later renamed.
This not the first time a Chinese internet giant has withdrawn from gaming. In March this year, ByteDance sold its gaming studio Moonton Holdings to Savvy Games Group, a company owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, for more than USD6 billion. Global Law Office and Skadden advised the seller in this transaction.
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