BEIJING • China's Alibaba Group Holding yesterday unveiled its most significant business reshuffle since co-founder Jack Ma announced his impending retirement, as the e-commerce firm looks to bolster its investment focus in the face of slowing growth.
Chief financial officer Maggie Wu will oversee Alibaba's strategic investments unit, taking over that duty from executive vice-chairman Joe Tsai, who will support Ms Wu in her expanded role, the firm said on its official WeChat account.
The change comes as Alibaba invests in new business lines such as cloud computing, as a boom in its core e-commerce has peaked and revenue growth slows.
Reuters reported last month that the firm is considering raising as much as US$20 billion (S$27.4 billion) through a listing in Hong Kong to boost funds for investment.
"To guarantee innovation, invest in our future, Alibaba is undertaking an organisational upgrade," the company said in a statement signed by chief executive Daniel Zhang, who will become chairman when Mr Ma retires on Sept 10.
The changes were effective from yesterday, Alibaba said.
Expanding Ms Wu's remit is aimed at more tightly integrating Alibaba's investments into its overall ecosystem, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Mr Tsai will remain executive vice-chairman, the person said.
Ms Wu has been CFO since 2013.
Mr Tsai sits on the board and has served on investment committees of Alibaba Group and affiliate Ant Financial. He joined the company in 1999 and emerged as a key dealmaker, helping to draw in investment from the likes of US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Mr Duncan Clark, author of Alibaba: The House That Jack Built, said Mr Ma's impending resignation made it natural for observers to question Mr Tsai's future at the firm.
"Joe is inextricably linked to Jack," he said. Describing Mr Tsai as Mr Ma's right-hand man, he said: "Ma's imminent retirement begs the question as to whether the right-hand man would follow suit."
Mr Tsai declined to comment.
Alibaba's outbound investment has slowed since a flurry of deals in 2014 and 2015, and Mr Clark said the company was increasingly targeting the domestic market.
In its statement, Alibaba said its supermarket division Freshippo will become a standalone business, while enterprise software unit DingTalk will be merged into the firm's cloud unit.
REUTERS
