The most significant Alibaba management shakeup since founder Jack Ma revealed he would step aside next September 10 sees high-profile CFO Maggie Wu take on a new role.
Wu will take over responsibility for strategic investments by the group, charged with finding new growth streams for the technology and retail giant as its growth in the e-commerce sector begins to slow. She will oversee a team focused on investment, taking over that responsibility from executive vice-chairman Joe Tsai.
The Alibaba management changes were revealed via the company’s official WeChat account by CEO Daniel Zhang.
“To guarantee innovation, invest in our future, Alibaba is undertaking an organisational upgrade,” he said.
Wu has been Alibaba’s CFO for six years.
In other changes, Alibaba said its supermarket chain Freshippo – also known as Hema and now numbering 160 stores – will become a standalone business. DingTalk, the group’s enterprise software business unit, will be merged into the Alibaba Cloud business unit.
These changes come ahead of a planned IPO in Hong Kong later this year which could raise as much as US$20 billion in fresh capital for expansion via investment.