The Facts
Alibaba Group on Tuesday announced chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang would resign from his roles, instead turning his attention to his position as the chairman and CEO of the company’s cloud division, which he has simultaneously run since December.
Effective September, executive vice chairman and co-founder Joseph Tsai will take over as chairman, while Eddie Wu, chairman of its e-commerce unit Taobao and Tmall Group, will become Alibaba’s next CEO.
The Spin
Narrative A
Alibaba’s executive reshuffling is a show of confidence in Daniel Zhang’s ability to turn around the company’s cloud unit that also recognizes the near-impossibility of one man serving three high-demanding roles. Joseph Tsai and Eddie Wu have been with Alibaba since the beginning and are more than qualified to assume their new positions.
Narrative B
This shakeup is indicative of underlying problems facing Alibaba, and time is short for the group to show it's a dominant force across multiple industries. It’s easy to see Zhang was demoted and is on the hot seat with the cloud unit, just as it’s easy to understand how China’s COVID policies took a toll on business — it’s time for results across all six parts of Alibaba.
