Written by Sherry Chin
Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu has announced direct control of the company's domestic e-commerce unit in the latest management change at the e-commerce giant, which is struggling with new competition from the likes of PDD Holdings in the domestic market. He will take command.
Alibaba announced on Wednesday that its board of directors approved Mr. Wu's appointment as chief executive officer of domestic e-commerce business Taobao and Tmall Group, effective immediately, according to an exchange filing.
Wu will succeed Trudy Dai, the former CEO of Taobao and Tmall Group and one of the founding members of Alibaba.
The change represents the latest leadership move for the e-commerce giant, which is currently stumbling on several fronts after years of dominating China's e-commerce market.
Alibaba pioneered online shopping in China and has since expanded into cloud computing, brick-and-mortar supermarkets, and digital entertainment.
Headwinds began to blow three years ago when the company's co-founder, Jack Ma, became embroiled in a crackdown by Chinese government regulators. The company lost its longtime chief executive officer in recent months. Wu took over the CEO role vacated by Daniel Chan earlier this year. Mr. Wu also became chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group in September following Mr. Zhang's sudden resignation.
Alibaba's restructuring plan to revive it quickly hit a roadblock.
Alibaba went public in 2014, and its stock price soared. Those gains have petered out, with Alibaba stock now trading close to its IPO price.
In late November, Alibaba lost its long-held title as China's most valuable online retailer by market capitalization to PDD Holdings, which operates e-commerce platforms Temu and Pinduoduo.
The management shake-up means that Wu will join Alibaba's executive team and directly run the company's two core businesses: e-commerce and cloud.
Alibaba also said it would establish a new asset management company to focus on managing the company's non-core assets as part of its efforts to “improve return on capital and enhance shareholder value.”
Email Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com.
(Ended) Dow Jones News
December 20, 2023 05:59 ET (10:59 GMT)
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