Alibaba Revamps Management Team, Aiming for Innovation and Growth Amid Challenges

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA is undergoing a significant management restructuring, marking a new phase in its strategy to rejuvenate leadership and adapt to post-pandemic market conditions and past regulatory challenges. 

The company announced that Yu Yongfu, a long-standing executive and partner, will step down from overseeing a range of businesses, from the mapping service Amap to the meal delivery platform Ele.me, by the end of March, Bloomberg reports.

In the wake of Yu’s departure, Alibaba has appointed Wu Zeming, the Chief Technology Officer, as the new chairman of Ele.me, with Han Liu stepping in as the chief executive. 

Also Read: Alibaba Faces Headwinds: Job Cuts and IPO Delays Follow Intense Competition and Regulatory Challenges

Similarly, Liu Zhenfei and Guo Ning will be Amap’s CEO and chairman. These changes are part of Alibaba’s broader effort to navigate through the aftermath of stringent regulatory scrutiny and the economic disturbances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These have prompted a series of high-profile exits, including that of the company’s CEO, Daniel Zhang, and e-commerce head, Trudy Dai.

Alibaba remains engaged in driving shareholder value by focusing on artificial intelligence endeavors. The cloud unit slashed cloud prices up to 55% to stay relevant in the domestic market versus Baidu, Inc BIDU.

Alibaba also led a $1 billion investment in Moonshot AI, boosting the startup’s value to $2.5 billion. 

In February, Alibaba reported third-quarter FY23 revenue growth of 5% year-on-year to $36.67 billion, lagging the consensus of $36.74 billion. Adjusted earnings per ADS of $2.67 missed the consensus of $2.69.

Investors can gain exposure to ETFs, including Invesco Golden Dragon China ETF PGJ and Tidal Trust II CoreValues Alpha Greater China Growth ETF CGRO, which have gained between 7-11% last month.

Price Action: BABA shares traded higher by 0.69% at $74.54 premarket on the last check Friday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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