Alibaba changes leadership, appoints new chairman, CEO

Beijing, June 20 (EFE).- Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced Tuesday that its current president and CEO Daniel Zhang would leave his post in September to cede control to a new leadership.

In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is listed, the group said Eddie Yongming Wu, until now president of Taobao, one of the conglomerate’s main e-commerce platforms, would become CEO, while Joseph C. Tsai, current executive vice president, would become president.

Alibaba’s board of directors said it thanked Zhang in the statement for his “exceptional contributions to the development” of the company and his “extraordinary leadership” in “managing uncertainties” in recent years.

Zhang has been CEO of the conglomerate since 2015 and president since 2019, after replacing charismatic co-founder Jack Ma.

According to the information provided by the group, Wu is one of the co-founders of the company and has held various positions within its organizational chart, including Taobao’s chief technology officer or chief financial officer.

Tsai began working at Alibaba in 1999 as part of the founding team, since which date he has served on the company’s board of directors.

After 12:45 local time (4:45 GMT), shortly after the news broke, Alibaba’s shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had fallen 1.61 percent.

Alibaba made in its last fiscal year, which ended on Mar. 31, a net profit of RMB72 billion ($10 billion,) a 17-percent increase in year-on-year terms. EFE

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