Alibaba is in talks to sell its Lingxi Games unit for more than $1.5 billion
Trustar Capital is the reported buyer. No deal has been signed. A sale would fit Alibaba's shift toward cloud and AI.
Alibaba is in advanced talks to sell Lingxi Games, its video-game studio, to the private equity firm Trustar Capital, according to reports citing people familiar with the matter. The deal, if it happens, could value Lingxi at more than $1.5 billion. Negotiations were still ongoing in mid-August. No agreement has been announced. Lingxi and Trustar have not commented.
36Kr, citing Bloomberg, said Trustar's bid was higher than those of other bidders, including video-game manufacturers. Earlier this year, outlets had Alibaba seeking 7 billion to 9 billion yuan, or about $1.04 billion to $1.34 billion. A price above $1.5 billion would be richer than that ask. Lingxi is best known for Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition, a 2019 title that Dealroom said has more than 100 million registered users. Dealroom also said Lingxi's reporting line shifted to Alibaba's chief financial officer in August 2025.
Chinese internet companies have been selling the entertainment bits that do not sit next to AI. Simply Wall St and Dealroom both frame a sale as part of Alibaba's shift, under chief executive Eddie Wu, toward cloud, AI, and e-commerce. $1.5 billion is small next to a group Simply Wall St put at about $282 billion. For Lingxi's staff, it is a different sentence: the projects stay, the owner changes. I would not treat this as a closed sale. It is a bid process that leaked.
Watch for a signed agreement, a price, and what Alibaba says it will do with the cash. Until then it is talks. If Trustar walks, the next bidder will tell you what a games studio inside a cloud company is actually worth.