Daniel Zhang, who had been expected to give up his chief executive and chairman roles this month, is also leaving as head of the company’s cloud division.
The moves also are aimed at spurring growth at a time when the Chinese economy is slowing despite an end to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions a half-year ago. Eddie Wu, chairman of its e-commerce group, will succeed Daniel Zhang as CEO, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Zhang will be CEO and chairman of Alibaba’s cloud computing unit, which has been approved to be spun off and is expected to be listed for trading within a year.
Google, Alibaba and other Big Tech companies could be forced to share data on financial services customers with banks and financial technology firms to prevent unfair competition. As Facebook’s plan for its Libra “stablecoin” faces scrutiny, a global body of regulators from the world’s main financial centers said that Big Tech’s growing tentacles raised questions for financial stability, competition and data privacy.
The departure of the executive who led the Chinese company through its transformation into a major power in technology comes at a challenging time.
Alibaba Group Holding’s video streaming service, Youku Tudou, has signed content licensing deals with NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures Television, marking a deeper foray into entertainment for the Chinese e-commerce giant.
The move is a product of a major corporate reorganization and a consolidation of all of Alibaba’s media holdings, and it includes a $1.48 billion fund for new projects. The company declined to mention specific investment projects, saying that the funds will be used across their digital media and entertainment businesses.
Exclusives
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma is stepping up his Hollywood dealmaking push, leading a team of Alibaba executives meeting with studios to acquire online content, people with knowledge of the situation say.
Alibaba’s push into Hollywood is picking up steam. The enormous Chinese e-commerce company, which recently posted a world-record initial public offering in the U.S., has invested $50 million in Peel, maker of a smart remote app for televisions.
