Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) announced on Tuesday, 20th June, that CEO and Chairman Daniel Zhang will resign on September 10, 2023. Zhang will be succeeded as CEO by Eddie Wu Yongming, the current chairman of Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall Group. Joseph C. Tsai, Alibaba’s current executive vice chairman, will become the company’s chairman.

Zhang will remain with Alibaba as the chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group, the company’s cloud computing division. He will also continue to serve on Alibaba’s board of directors. In a statement, Zhang said he was stepping down to focus on Alibaba Cloud, which he believes is “critical to the future of Alibaba and the digital economy.” He said he was confident that Wu and Tsai were the right people to lead Alibaba into its next growth phase.

Wu has been with Alibaba since 2003 and has held a variety of senior positions in the company’s e-commerce and cloud businesses. Tsai is a co-founder of Alibaba and has been the company’s executive vice chairman since 2013. Zhang’s decision to step down from his CEO and chairman roles is a significant change for Alibaba. He has been the company’s leader since 2015 and has overseen its rapid growth into one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies.