Former Alibaba Group Holding chairman Daniel Zhang resigned as chairman and CEO of the cloud business unit on Sunday.
Eddie Wu, an Alibaba BABA,
9988,
co-founder, has become acting head of the cloud unit following Zhang’s departure, an Alibaba spokesperson said in a statement.
Wu and Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai, a close ally of co-founder Jack Ma, also officially succeeded Zhang on Sunday as CEO and chairman, respectively, of Alibaba Group, completing a leadership reshuffle announced in June.
The Chinese tech giant is undergoing a reorganization that will split itself into multiple independent companies as it strives to be more agile and tries to get its core e-commerce business back on a growth path amid fierce competition.
Alibaba is aiming for a public listing of its cloud division, the second-largest company by revenue after its domestic e-commerce division, by spring next year. The business grew 4% in the April-June quarter, the slowest growth rate of the group’s six divisions. On the earnings call after the results, Zhang blamed the drop in demand after the pandemic and that of one of his top customers.
A separate management team will be appointed to lead the cloud unit, the company spokesperson said.
Zhang, who became CEO of the unit last year, said in June that he would devote himself fully to the cloud business.
Zhang has voluntarily resigned from the cloud unit and will set up a fund to support Alibaba’s technology ecosystem and investments, Tsai said in a letter sent to Alibaba employees on Sunday and seen by The Wall Street Journal.
Tsai said in the letter that Alibaba plans to invest $1 billion in the fund.
Zhang, a former financial adviser to PricewaterhouseCoopers, joined Alibaba in 2007 to lead the finances and operations of Taobao, Alibaba’s main marketplace, and became chairman of the group in 2019 when Ma stepped down.