Former Alibaba chief Daniel Zhang quits cloud division in surprise move

Alibaba Group’s former chief Daniel Zhang (pictured) will quit his role as head of the group’s cloud division, just months after the company announced he stepped down as group CEO to focus on the cloud unit.

According to an internal letter viewed by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Joseph Tsai, Alibaba group chairman said Zhang has expressed his wish to transition away from his role as chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group, as the group’s reorganisation has been making steady progress since March this year.

Following careful consideration, the Alibaba board respected and accepted Zhang’s decision, and appointed Eddie Wu as acting chairman and CEO of Cloud Intelligence Group, effective immediately.

Zhang will continue to contribute to Alibaba by channelling his expertise differently. “We have decided that Alibaba will invest US$ 1 billion in a technology fund that Zhang will establish. The fund will support Alibaba’s strategy of investing for future growth and continuing to develop our technology ecosystem,” said the statement.

The company will continue to execute its previously announced plan to spin off Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group under a separate management team to be appointed, subject to restructuring of certain assets, liabilities and contracts, implementation of employee equity incentive plans, market conditions, as well as regulatory reviews and approvals in relevant jurisdictions.

Zhang has been with the company for 16 years and he took the helm as group chairman four years ago. During the time, Zhang had set in motion the group’s commitment to an institutionalised succession system that supports a sustainable enterprise for centuries, said the statement.

Tsai said: “I want to especially express my deep gratitude to Zhang for his contributions and remarkable achievements over the past 16 years at Alibaba. He created the now globally renowned Double 11 shopping festival; led Tmall’s strategy to enable the digitisation and eCommerce capabilities of our global brand clients; guided our team to transition our business from the desktop to mobile; spearheaded Alibaba’s strategic positioning in multiple business sectors as well as in global markets.”

“The leadership transition goes beyond a simple handover of responsibility; it's about the continuation of Alibaba’s culture, values and systems. This is the bedrock of our aspiration to live 102 years,” Tsai added.

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This comes months after Zhang stepped down as the group’s CEO and promised to strengthen Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group’s market leadership by making cloud computing and artificial intelligence more accessible for businesses of all sizes and industries as they continue their digital transformation. 

Back in March this year, Alibaba announced a major restructuring to divide itself into six units that will individually raise funds and explore initial public offerings, the biggest restructuring of the Chinese online commerce leader since its establishment more than two decades ago. 

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