The company announced that Joe Tsai will take Daniel Zhang's place as the group’s chairman and Eddie Wu will become the new CEO.
Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group has announced a reshuffle in the company's management: its CEO and Head of the Board of Directors Daniel Zhang will leave both positions and continue to lead the Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group, which is planned to allocate into an independent organization.
Eddie Wu, who was the chairman of Taobao & Tmall Group, will take over as CEO, and current Alibaba's executive vice chairman Joseph Tsai will take Zhang's place as the group's chairman, according to Alibaba’s press release.
All changes will take effect on September 10, 2023.
"As everyone is well aware, the development of core technologies such as cloud computing, big data and AI will lead to a tremendous transformation of our society and is of utmost strategic significance,"
Zhang said in an internal memo to Alibaba staff.
"Cloud Intelligence Group is now full speed ahead on its spin-off plans and we are approaching a crucial stage of the process, so it is the right time for me to dedicate my full attention and time to the business,"
he added.
This succession plan comes after China's largest e-commerce company said in March it will restructure its company into six business groups, each of which will go public and raise outside funding.
Other than cloud intelligence, the other five business units include its Taobao Tmall business; its local services arm focusing on food delivery and mapping; the Cainiao Smart logistics business; its global e-commerce business including AliExpress and Lazada; and its digital media and entertainment business.
According to Maria Belyaeva, an expert at the BRICS Competition Centre, Alibaba's restructuring is related to the requirement of the antimonopoly regulator.
“By restructuring, Alibaba is trying to diversify risks. The company's past fines were related to its e-commerce platforms, Taobao and Tmall, but this was affecting the entire company and its stock price. Now each entity of Alibaba will bear its own risks, and the consequences will not fall on the entire corporation."
Source: CNBC
