Alibaba reshuffles leadership as competition mounts

After a bruising antitrust investigation, the Chinese firm replaced its long-standing chief financial officer and reshuffling the leaders of its commerce businesses.

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Toby Xu will replace Maggie Wu as CFO on April 1, the company said in a statement late Sunday. According to the statement, Wu will serve as executive director on the internet giant's board and will remain in the Alibaba Partnership. The company said in a blog post that Alibaba is creating two Digital Commerce teams, one for international markets, led by Jiang Fan, and one for the domestic market, which is headed up by Trudy Dai.

As headwinds mount, the firm in Hangzhou is shaking up its management. After coughing up a record antitrust fine earlier this year, the online retailer has had to navigate closer regulatory scrutiny while fending off increased competition that forced it to cut its revenue outlook last month. In response to the rising challenges, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang is devolving power to heads of the company's business units in order to make the divisions more agile, according to Dow Jones last month.

The management team is focused on the long-term and succession within our management team is always in the service of making sure that Alibaba will be stronger and better positioned for the future, according to Zhang in Sunday's statement.

Wu has been with the Chinese online shopping firm for nearly 15 years and was instrumental in the company's listings in New York and Hong Kong. She retreats because of Wu being one of the most prominent female executives in China's internet sphere.

The markets will always have ups and downs, but the company has ambitious long-term goals, Wu said in the statement. We need new generations of talent to take the company forward, because we are in a relay race. Xu joined PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP three years ago, where he was a partner. He was appointed deputy CFO in July 2019.

The International Digital Commerce unit will oversee the AliExpress logistics service, Alibaba.com and the Southeast Asian platform Lazada, according to Alibaba's website. The executive came under pressure last year due to a social media scandal that escalated into Alibaba's worst public relations debacle at the time. The firm handling of the case has raised concerns over the influence of Jack Ma and Alibaba over public opinion, according to Bloomberg News.

Now, Jiang will be replaced by Dai, who was previously Alibaba's chief customer officer and had led units such as its industrial e-commerce businesses and the fast-growing community marketplace Taocaicai.

At a pivotal moment, Dai is taking over the domestic e-commerce business, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of Alibaba's revenue. Alibaba is faced with growing competition from rivals such as Pinduoduo Inc., which has overtaken the larger firm in number of domestic consumers, as well as upstarts like ByteDance Inc. in areas like live-streamed e-commerce.

The company has shifted its focus on its philanthropy and sustainable initiatives to align with Beijing's priorities this year as the company cut back on promotions and shifted its focus on Singles Day shopping bonanza this year.

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