HANGZHOU, CHINA – Alibaba.com Ltd. (1688.HK) made the executive decision today, as Chief Executive Officer David Wei, and Chief Operating Officer “Elvis” Lee, both allegedly resigned due to allegations of fraudulent activity by company officials.

(photo credit: Reuters)

Industry insiders in Hangzhou and abroad are already speculating that Alibaba’s spin doctors very quickly put forth the news in an effort to suppress the possibility of a firing taking place, instead of a voluntary resignation.

Recent news that has plagued the Internet giant includes accusations that Alibaba has formed an oligopoly amongst Chinese enterprises, as Baidu and Tencent have been named in a collective sweep of enterprises that currently make up over 70 percent of the total market value of all listed Internet companies in China.

Chinese finance website Hexun reported the findings Friday, citing that “the three Internet giants hold stable monopolized positions in the sectors of search engines, instant messaging and e-commerce, respectively, which poses challenges to the interests of Internet users, the prosperity of the industry and government supervisions.”

In 2010, the total market value of Baidu, Alibaba (only B2B business) and Tencent reached US$77.4 billion, according to Chinalabs’ calculations.

Wei and Lee, who, according to Alibaba, “weren’t involved in any of the activities that led to claims by buyers of fraudulent suppliers,” resigned in a display of personal responsibility for the “systemic breakdown in the company’s culture of integrity,” according to a company statement today.