In a major overhaul at the top of the company, Alibaba Group, China’s leading e-commerce giant, announced Tuesday that Daniel Zhang would step down from his role as chairman and CEO of the company.
Mr. Zhang said he would continue to serve as CEO of Alibaba’s cloud computing division. Joseph Tsai, an Alibaba veteran who serves as the company’s executive vice chairman, Mr. Zhang as chairman and member of Alibaba’s board of directors.
Alibaba’s e-commerce division leader Eddie Yongming Wu will succeed Mr. Zhang as CEO, the company added. Mr. Wu is currently the chairman of Taobao and Tmall Group, Alibaba’s e-commerce services. He will continue to lead both platforms as CEO of Alibaba.
The changes take effect on September 10.
The realignment comes just a few months after Alibaba said it would split into six divisions in what it called the “most significant” overhaul in its 24-year history. As part of the shift, each division came under an independent chief executive, and Mr. Zhang assumed the additional title of chief executive of Alibaba’s cloud intelligence group.
With the latest change, Mr. Zhang will no longer be Alibaba’s top leader, a role long held by the company’s founder Jack Ma, instead taking on a smaller role as division head.
Mr Ma was pushed out of the public eye after criticizing Chinese regulators in 2020 for suppressing innovation at Ant Group, Alibaba’s financial technology sister company. Following his comments, Chinese officials suspended plans for Ant Group to sell shares in an IPO.
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