China’s Alibaba Group has revealed a significant management reshuffle aimed at stimulating the growth of the e-commerce giant, as the Chinese economy faces a slowdown despite the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions several months ago.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the company announced that Eddie Wu, the current chairman of its e-commerce group, will take over as CEO, succeeding Daniel Zhang.
Zhang, on the other hand, will assume the roles of CEO and chairman of Alibaba’s cloud computing unit, which has received approval for a spin-off and is anticipated to be listed for trading within a year.
Joseph Tsai, the current executive vice chairman of Alibaba, will succeed Zhang as chairman of the Alibaba Group. Tsai, a Taiwan-born Canadian citizen who played a significant role in the establishment of Alibaba in the late 1990s, also owns the NBA basketball team Brooklyn Nets. The management changes will be effective from September 10.
Zhang took on the position of Alibaba Group’s CEO in 2015 and later succeeded Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba, as chairman in 2019.
Commenting on the transition, Zhang stated, “This is the right time for me to make a transition, given the importance of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group as it progresses towards a full spin-off. I look forward to working closely with Joe and Eddie in the coming months to ensure a seamless transition.”
In March, Alibaba had already announced its plans to restructure the company into six business divisions, with the intention of allowing all except its core e-commerce business to raise external capital and go public.