Former Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang steps down from cloud unit in surprise exit amid leadership transition

Zhang’s exit comes the same day he was scheduled to hand over the company to the chairman Joseph Tsai and CEO Eddie Wu Yongming as decided in June. Alibaba says cloud spin-off still on the table, group to invest US$1bil in a technology fund to be set up by Zhang. — SCMP

Former Alibaba Group Holding chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang Yong is stepping down as head of the e-commerce giant’s cloud division, a move that comes as a surprise the same day he was scheduled to hand the reins of the parent company to co-founder Joseph C. Tsai.

Alibaba’s new CEO Eddie Wu Yongming, who like Tsai assumed his new role on Sunday, has also taken over for Zhang as acting chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group on the same day, according to an Alibaba spokesperson.