Meet Alibaba's New CEO, Daniel Zhang

Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA spiked higher by around 10 percent Thursday morning after the company reported its first fourth quarter and full year results while also announcing that Daniel Zhang, currently Chief Operating Officer of Alibaba will take over as Chief Executive Officer as of May 10. Alibaba's current CEO, Jonathan Lu, will remain on the company's Board of Directors under the Vice Chairman title. He will work with Zhang over the coming months to ensure a successful transition. Zhang has been with Alibaba for eight years and has held top management positions across the company. He is also a founding member of the Alibaba Partnership and has served as Chief Operating Officer since 2013 and oversaw the operations of all Alibaba Group businesses in China and internationally. "Daniel is a proven international business leader and innovator with a strong track record of delivering results. He has the confidence of our entire management team, and there is no better person to lead Alibaba Group as we embark on the next stage of our growth on top of the strong foundation that Jonathan helped build," said Jack Ma, Alibaba Group's Executive Chairman in a press release. "I am grateful to Jonathan Lu for his excellent leadership and management over the past several years, and I look forward to his continued contribution as a key leader in helping Alibaba Group train and develop the next generation of leaders. Alibaba Group has a strong and deep bench of talented executives who will help lead the company for the years to come. Today's announcement reflects our commitment to continuing to develop strong leadership from within." Alibaba also announced the appointment of Borje Ekholm to the Board of Directors and serve as an independent director and member of the Audit Committee. Ekholm is the President and CEO of Investor AB of Sweden and is the non-executive Chairman of NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. NDAQ. The Swedish executive also serves on the boards of global technology companies including Ericsson ERIC.