China’s leading e-commerce giant Alibaba Group announced on Tuesday that Daniel Zhang will step down as the company’s chairman and chief executive.
Mr. Zhang said he will continue to serve as chief executive of Alibaba’s cloud computing division. Joseph Tsai, an Alibaba veteran who is the company’s executive vice president, Mr. Zhang will be succeeded as chairman and member of Alibaba’s board of directors.
Eddie Yongming Wu, head of Alibaba’s e-commerce division, said Mr. Zhang will succeed him as chief executive, the company added. Mr. Wu is currently president of Taobao and Tmall Group, Alibaba’s e-commerce services. He will continue to lead those two platforms as Alibaba’s chief executive.
These changes will be effective from September 10.
The restructuring comes months after Alibaba said it would split itself into six divisions.Very essential” has been modified in its 24-year history. As part of the transition, each division was headed by an independent chief executive, and Mr. Zhang has taken on the additional title of chief executive of Alibaba’s cloud intelligence group.
With the recent change, Mr. Zhang will no longer be Alibaba’s top executive, a position long occupied by the company’s founder Jack Ma, instead taking on a smaller role as a division head.
Mr. Ma was pushed out of the public eye in 2020 after criticizing Chinese regulators for stifling innovation at Ant Group, Alibaba’s financial technology sister company. After his comments, Chinese authorities halted plans to sell shares in Ant Group’s initial public offering.
This is growing news. Check back for updates.
