Alibaba Changes CFO and Splits E-commerce Division in China

Alibaba Group headquarters building located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] Alibaba, China's largest online shopping mall company, is replacing its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and reorganizing its e-commerce business.

According to major foreign media on the 6th, Alibaba announced in a statement that Xu Hong, the current Deputy CFO, will be appointed as the new CFO starting April 1 next year. Alibaba explained that this appointment is part of the company's leadership succession plan. Currently, Alibaba's CFO is Wu Wei, one of the well-known female entrepreneurs in China's internet industry.

Xu Hong, 48 years old this year, graduated from Shanghai Fudan University, worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and joined Alibaba three years ago. She was appointed Deputy CFO of Alibaba in July 2019.

Alibaba also plans to reorganize its e-commerce business into international and China divisions to accelerate growth and respond agilely to the business environment. The international e-commerce division includes the e-commerce platform 'AliExpress,' the Southeast Asian online shopping platform 'Lazada,' and the business-to-business (B2B) platform 'Alibaba.com.'

The China e-commerce division includes shopping applications (apps) 'Taobao' and 'Tmall.' Dai Shan, who managed the Alibaba platform, has been appointed as the head.