Chinese commerce giant Alibaba has announced that chief exec and chair Daniel Zhang will step down from his roles ahead of the company’s split into six business units.

Zhang will step down to focus on Alibaba’s cloud division, an area he has concurrently been head of since December 2022 after it suffered its longest failure in over a decade.

Alibaba has confirmed that Eddie Yongming Wu, chairman of Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall Group, will serve as its new chief exec, while executive vice chairman Joseph Tsai will take over as chairman. Both appointments will take effect on 10 September.

The reshuffle has come as something of a surprise for market analysts, and comes after two years during which Alibaba was heavily targeted by regulators. The company in March announced plans to restructure into six discrete units, each with their own boards and leadership.

In a memo to staff, via Reuters, Zhang said that the time was right for him to fully dedicate himself to the cloud business which analysts have estimated will be worth around $41 billion. He said: "From a corporate governance perspective, we also need clear separation between the board and management team as the Cloud Intelligence Group proceeds down the path to becoming an independent public company.

"It would be inappropriate for me to continue serving as chairman and CEO of both companies at the same time during the spin-off process."

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