Jan. 21, 2010 (China Knowledge) - Alibaba Group, the parent of Alibaba.com Ltd<1688>, the world's largest online B2B marketplace, plans to boost its global work force this year, sources reported, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Alibaba Group will hire more both at home and overseas markets. It will launch an overseas recruitment campaign in the U.S. soon. However, the Internet company did not give the exact number of employees it plans to recruit this year.

The firm hired 6,480 new staff in 2009. At the end of last year, the group's total work force was 17,500, most of which were based in China.

Employees below senior executive level will receive salary increases this year, and the company will give out year-end bonuses for 2009. However, vice-presidents and above will not be involved in the pay increase and salary adjustments, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing Chairman Jack Ma in an internal memo.