Shares in Chinese technology company
Alibaba
retreated on Tuesday after it announced an overhaul of its senior management.
Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Zhang will step down, the company said in a statement. Joseph Tsai will replace Zhang as chairman and Eddie Yongming Wu will become the chief executive. Both Tsai and Wu are company veterans who have been with the company since 1999 as founder Jack Ma built it into a corporate behemoth.
The shake-up comes as
Alibaba
(ticker: BABA) prepares itself to split into six separate companies to maximize value for shareholders. It’s the biggest restructuring in the company’s history and comes after Chinese regulators started cracking down on technology companies since 2020.
Zang will stay on as head of the cloud computing unit. That arm is making significant job cuts in preparation for an initial public offering.
Alibaba stock closed down 1.5% in Hong Kong, in line with the Hang Seng Index overall. Its American depositary receipts were down 2% in premarket trading.
Write to Brian Swint at brian.swint@barrons.com
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