Meet Alibaba's New CEO, Daniel Zhang

Shares of

spiked higher by around 10 percent Thursday morning after the company reported its first fourth quarter and full year results while also announcing that Daniel Zhang, currently Chief Operating Officer of Alibaba will take over as Chief Executive Officer as of May 10. Alibaba's current CEO, Jonathan Lu, will remain on the company's Board of Directors under the Vice Chairman title. He will work with Zhang over the coming months to ensure a successful transition. Zhang has been with Alibaba for eight years and has held top management positions across the company. He is also a founding member of the Alibaba Partnership and has served as Chief Operating Officer since 2013 and oversaw the operations of all Alibaba Group businesses in China and internationally. "Daniel is a proven international business leader and innovator with a strong track record of delivering results. He has the confidence of our entire management team, and there is no better person to lead Alibaba Group as we embark on the next stage of our growth on top of the strong foundation that Jonathan helped build," said Jack Ma, Alibaba Group's Executive Chairman in a