Alibaba's Gaming Division Ushers in Youthful Leadership for a Fresh Era

Alibaba Group Holding Limited’s BABA gaming division, Lingxi Games, announced a significant leadership change, with the current team stepping down to usher in younger management. 

This decision aligns with Alibaba’s strategy in 2023 to infuse its leadership teams with individuals born after 1985, aiming to preserve a dynamic startup culture and avoid stagnation. 

The move is part of Alibaba’s broader restructuring to a holding company model and its operations division into six primary units, Reuters reports.

Leadership shifts have recently occurred within Alibaba’s e-commerce, cloud, and local services sectors. Zhan Zhonghui, leader of Lingxi Games, and two other executives will depart by the end of March, making way for Zhou Bingshu, a seasoned game producer in his mid-30s. 

Lingxi Games, renowned for its successful mobile game “Three Kingdom Tactics,” which generated over $1 billion in its initial two years, reflects the potential impact of this leadership transition. 

Zhan, the founder of Guangzhou Ejoy, which Alibaba acquired in 2017, had significantly contributed to the division’s success before this announcement.

Alibaba remains engaged in various activities, from investing in artificial intelligence startups to launching a significant discounting campaign in the cloud computing industry. 

The company’s activities included revamping strategy of its Taobao unit, divesting its 20% share in Suning.com, a major Chinese retailer, downsizing at Daraz Group subsidiary, a prominent e-commerce entity in South Asia and management overhaul at Ele.me and Amap.

Alibaba might receive a significant lift from NPC policies aimed at stimulating consumer spending, according to analyst David Riedel of Riedel Research Group, who also identified stocks poised to gain from initiatives announced at China’s National People’s Congress, CNBC reports.

Investors can gain exposure to Alibaba via Invesco Golden Dragon China ETF PGJ and Tidal Trust II CoreValues Alpha Greater China Growth ETF CGRO.

Price Action: BABA shares traded higher by 0.84% at $73.15 premarket on the last check Friday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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