Chinese tech shares Alibaba fell sharply on Monday following a surprise move by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Daniel Zhang to step down from his role at Cloud Intelligence Group.
The move comes months after the group said in June that Zhang would step down as chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group to focus on the unit.
Eddie Wu, who is set to take over from Zhang as CEO and director of Alibaba Group from September 10, will now also become chairman of the cloud business on an interim basis, the company said in a statement on Sunday.
Zhang has been CEO of Alibaba since 2015 and chairman of the group since 2019, in addition to being the chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group since 2022.
According to a private letter to staff seen by Reuters, Zhang said he would continue to contribute to Alibaba by channeling his expertise in different ways.
In addition, the company will also continue to implement its plan to separate Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group under a separate management team to be appointed.
Alibaba led the losses in tech stocks, shedding about 3.6% in the Asian session today following the report.
