Chinese tech giant Alibaba is replacing Daniel Zhang–its chairman and CEO of eight years–as part of the most seismic shakeup in its history.
Joseph Tsai, executive vice chairman and a co-founder of Alibaba (BABA), will succeed Daniel Zhang as chairman. Eddie Wu will succeed Zhang as chief executive officer.
Of the pair, Tsai has name recognition in the United States as the owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets (how his new gig will impact his role with the basketball team is uncertain). Both appointments will take effect in September, and Zhang will still serve as head of a unit in the company.
“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. He has been Alibaba’s CEO since 2015.
The company said in March that it was splitting into six distinct units, including cloud, e-commerce, logistics, media, and entertainment. Each unit is now overseen by its own CEO and board directors. This drastic action comes in response to sales struggles related to China’s weak economic bounce-back from COVID-19, and is seen as a way to boost productivity and ward off fears of monopoly.
Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company, boasts more than 900 million active users annually on its Taobao and Tmall platforms. It also operates China’s biggest cloud computing and digital payment platforms.
