Global Courant
China’s Alibaba Group has announced that Eddie Wu, chairman of its e-commerce group, will succeed Daniel Zhang as CEO in a major management reshuffle
By means ofZEN SOO Associate Press
FILE – Joseph Tsai, Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group, addresses journalists during Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, also known as Singles Day, in Shanghai, China, on Nov. 11, 2018. China’s Alibaba Group has undergone a major realignment of management announced with the aim of helping to boost the e-commerce giant’s growth at a time when China’s economy is slowing, despite the end of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions half a year ago. (AP photo / Ng Han Guan, file)
The associated press
HONG KONG — China’s Alibaba Group has announced a major management reshuffle to boost the e-commerce giant’s growth at a time when China’s economy is slowing despite the end of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions half a year ago.
Eddie Wu, chairman of his e-commerce group, will succeed Daniel Zhang as CEO, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
Zhang will become CEO and chairman of Alibaba’s cloud computing unit, which has been approved for spin-off and is expected to be listed for trading within a year.
Alibaba’s current executive vice chairman, Joseph Tsai, will succeed Zhang as chairman of the Alibaba Group. Owner of the Brooklyn Nets NBA basketball team, Tsai is a Taiwanese-born Canadian citizen and helped found Alibaba in the late 1990s.
The changes take effect on September 10.
Zhang became CEO of Alibaba Group in 2015 and succeeded Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma as chairman in 2019.
“Now is the right time for me to make a transition given the importance of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group as it moves towards a full spin-off,” Zhang said in a statement.
“I look forward to working closely with Joe and Eddie over the coming months to ensure a seamless transition.”
Alibaba announced plans in March to transform itself into six business divisions with plans to enable all but its core e-commerce business to raise outside capital and go public.
