Alibaba’s longtime leader Daniel Zhang is being replaced as chief executive and chair of the Chinese ecommerce giant, as the group races to reinvent itself by splitting into six separate entities.Eddie Yongming Wu, the chair of Alibaba’s flagship ecommerce sites Taobao and Tmall, will replace Zhang as chief executive in September, the company announced on Tuesday. Alibaba co-founder and vice-chair Joseph Tsai will fill Zhang’s position as chair of the board.
The leadership change comes at a critical time for Alibaba after it announced plans to break up its tech empire in March and refocus on its ecommerce roots. Alibaba will pursue separate listings for its logistics and grocery businesses within the next 18 months and spin off its cloud division.
Zhang, who has served as CEO for eight years, is to remain in charge of the cloud unit, which he took over in December as it struggled to maintain growth. “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,” said Zhang in a statement.