Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has named a new Chairman and CEO in a surprise management shakeup announced at a time of slowing growth and cutthroat competition.
In this historic shakeup, Joseph Tsai, the Executive Vice Chairman and one of Alibaba’s co-founders, will take over from longtime leader, Daniel Zhang as chairman of the board, according to the company’s announcement on Tuesday. Eddie Wu, currently serving as the chairman of the e-commerce unit, Taobao and Tmall Group, will assume the position of Chief Executive Officer.
Speaking about the new changes, former chairman, Daniel zhang who exits after 8 years in the position said this was the right time to make the transition.
“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,” Zhang said in the announcement.
Both appointments will take effect in September, and Zhang will continue to serve as the chairman and CEO of Alibaba’s cloud unit.
This is the second time Alibaba is experiencing a significant change in executive leadership within a few years, following co-founder, Jack Ma’s departure in 2019. Moreover, this development is coming just months after the company’s most extensive restructuring in 24 years.
Technext reported that Alibaba announced a division into six distinct units, encompassing cloud computing, e-commerce, logistics, media, and entertainment. Each unit now operates under the leadership of its own CEO and board of directors, with the ability to pursue independent listings or fundraising activities.
The decision to break up the company was an effort to simplify its structure and make it more manageable and appease regulators who have been cracking down on China’s tech giants. It is a major restructuring that promises to yield several initial public offerings.
Read more: Alibaba’s new AI model set to rival ChatGPT amidst calls for regulation
Alibaba is worth $238 billion, making it the third-most valuable company in China behind gaming giant, Tencent, and beverage company, Kweichow Moutai.
About Joseph Tsai
Joseph Tsai, the vice chairman and co-founder of Alibaba Group, holds the position of the company’s second-largest individual shareholder, ranking behind Jack Ma, according to Forbes billionaire index. With a net worth exceeding $7.8 billion, Tsai is currently the ninth richest individual in Hong Kong.
Read more: Alibaba-backed Daraz fires 11% of its global workforce
Tsai is known for his strong support of cryptocurrency and active investment in Web3 ventures. Having a prominent figure like Tsai in a top leadership role within a major institution in China could potentially indicate Alibaba’s preparedness to embrace the emerging reality of Web3 and cryptocurrencies in China, should that become a reality.
He also owns the Brooklyn Nets an American professional basketball team.
In addition to his involvement in cryptocurrency and Web3 investments, Tsai has made notable investments in Polygon’s February 2022 round, the fundraise of Web3 fantasy sports platform Fast Break Labs, and the May 2023 funding of Artifact Labs, an NFT platform spun off from the South China Morning Post, where Tsai serves as chairman.
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