Jack Ma's Tech Empire Alibaba Prepares for Major Overhaul under New Leadership

Close to twenty years after founding Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA, Eddie Yongming Wu prepares to preside over the break-up of the tech empire he built with Jack Ma Ma and 16 others.

Wu will take over as CEO in the autumn, while the group's vice-chair Joe Tsai will step up as chair.

Ma will remain without an official position at Alibaba but plans to be more deeply involved, Financial Times cites knowledgeable sources.

Ma is pushing to refocus on small and medium-sized Taobao sellers instead of the big brands dominating Tmall. In May, he told employees that Alimama, the ad platform Wu built, was critical to the group's future.

Alibaba is betting on organizational restructuring to regain market share lost to fledgling online platforms while remaining compliant with China's regulatory norms.

"Jack and Eddie have a close, trusted relationship," said one former Alibaba executive. 

Wu never lost touch with mentor Ma, even when he left Alibaba for eight years. He picked an office in the central Hangzhou wetlands for his investment fund, a few ponds from where Ma held court and practiced tai chi. 

Wu also stayed on as Ma's special assistant and remained a member of the Alibaba partnership, which functions as a de facto board for the group.

The Alibaba employee said, "Jack is playing the role of architect. What he knows best are people and how to match them together."

Wu joined Ma's start-up China Pages after graduating from university in 1996. After Ma left Beijing, Wu was one of 18 co-founders who piled into his Hangzhou apartment in 1999 to create his next venture, Alibaba.

Later Ma put him in charge of building Alimama, the advertising engine for the company's e-commerce businesses. 

Wu built the Taobao shopping app, which evolved quickly into a critical part of Chinese consumers' daily shopping habits.

In 2015, Wu stepped back from Alibaba, chairing its healthcare arm while launching Vision Plus Capital.

Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 2.21% at $84.99 on the last check Friday.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons