Alibaba Reshuffles E-Commerce Businesses, Gets New CFO

Chinese e-commerce multinational technology company, Alibaba has announced that it would be appointing a new chief financial officer, while also reorganizing its e-commerce businesses to enhance a stable pedestal.

The company in an official statement today said its present CFO, Maggie Wu will be replaced by Toby Xu effective from April 1, 2022, with Wu still maintaining her position as an executive director on the company’s board.

The outgoing CFO, Maggie Wu had three years ago joined Alibaba from accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers and was appointed Deputy group CFO in July 2019. She later became the CFO of Alibaba in 2013, playing a very significant part in the three company listings of the group.

Apart from retaining her position as an executive director of the Alibaba board, she will also remain as a partner in the Alibaba Partnership – a group of senior executives who have the right to nominate a simple majority of Alibaba’s board of directors.

“We are focused on the long-term, and succession within our management team on every occasion is always in the service of ensuring Alibaba will be stronger and better positioned for the future,” said Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group.

Alibaba also announced the creation of an International Digital Commerce team that can handle its e-commerce businesses in international markets. According to a post on the company’s Alizila news hub, a China Digital Commerce team will be in charge of e-commerce operations inside China, with the international and domestic digital commerce teams to be led by executives Jiang Fan and Trudy Dai respectively.

The two team lead are not new to Alibaba’s operations as Jiang has held forte with Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba’s core e-commerce sites in China, while Dai was the firm’s chief customer officer.

With a regulatory crackdown in the technology industry in the forefront, the Hangzhou-based firm was fined a whopping $2.8 billion for antitrust violations and is under scrutiny as regulators step up oversight of the technology industry at a time when the economy is slowing.

The company last month cut its sales outlook for the year, with its expected growth for its current year to be the slowest since it listed in New York in 2014.

Its Singles’ Day shopping event also posted it’s slowest-ever growth this year, in the face of muted marketing campaigns and a shift to sustainability and philanthropy.

The company’s New York stock price has plunged more than 50% over the last 12 months, with its Hong Kong-traded shares down by 4.9% on Monday.