Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) has revealed the surprise announcement that Eddie Wu will succeed Daniel Zhang as its chief executive.
The company also announced that Joe Tsai will take Zhang’s place as the group’s chairman. Brooklyn Nets owner Tsai is currently Alibaba’s executive vice chairman.
Zhang has been Alibaba’s chief executive since 2015 and took over from Jack Ma as chairman in 2019. Wu, his successor as chief executive, is one of Alibaba’s co-founders and currently chairman of its Taobao and Tmall Group.
Wu has held a multitude of roles in his time at the company, including heading technology at Alibaba’s inception, as well as chief technology officer at Alipay and Taobao. He was also director of Alibaba Health Information Technology and founded Vision Plus Capital, a venture capital firm focused on investing in advanced technologies, enterprise services and digital health care.
The moves are intended to free up Zhang to focus on the company’s cloud intelligence business. He will continue to lead the Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group as chairman and chief executive after the changes, which the company said will take effect on 10 September.
The succession plan comes after China’s largest eCommerce company said in March it will restructure the company into six business groups in the most significant reorganization in its history.
Alibaba said last month it plans to complete a full spin-off of its cloud computing unit, aiming for the division to become an independent publicly listed company within the next 12 months.
Other than cloud intelligence, the company's other five business units include its Taobao Tmall business; its local services arm focusing on food delivery and mapping; the Cainiao Smart logistics business; its global e-commerce business including AliExpress and Lazada; and its digital media and entertainment business.
While Taobao Tmall will remain wholly owned by Alibaba, the company said in March that the reorganization will allow each business group to raise outside funding and go public.