Alibaba appoints Brooklyn Nets billionaire owner Joseph Tsai as new chairman
By Bryan Ke
June 21, 2023
Taiwanese Canadian billionaire Joseph Tsai will be replacing Daniel Zhang, the Chinese e-commerce’s former chairman and CEO, as Alibaba’s new and incoming chairman as the company undergoes major changes.
What you need to know: Tsai, a co-founder of Alibaba who also owns the Brooklyn Nets NBA team, will become the company’s new chairman starting September.
The CEO position left by Zhang will be filled by Eddie Wu, the chairman of Taobao and Tmall Group, Alibaba’s e-commerce services, the company announced on Tuesday.
Key details: The latest announcement came months after Alibaba Group announced its plan to restructure the company into six separate units, such as logistics, e-commerce and cloud services, with its own board of directors in March.
One of those units is Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, which Zhang will be focusing on as its chairman and CEO once he steps down in September.
Biggest shake-up in years: Alibaba’s March announcement was the company’s biggest shake-up in years since co-founder Jack Ma announced his retirement in 2019.
Beijing and Alibaba: The latest restructuring came as Beijing and Alibaba’s soured relationship thawed. Ma criticized state-owned banks in his Shanghai speech in 2020 as he urged them for more leniency on new businesses. Ma has rarely appeared in public since.
The former Alibaba chairman was reportedly present in March when Alibaba announced the restructuring.
About Joseph Tsai: Born in Taiwan, Tsai, now 59, moved to the U.S. as a teenager to attend an elite private boarding school in New Jersey and later at Yale University, where he received his undergraduate and law degrees.
He is among the list of Alibaba co-founders, along with incoming CEO Wu. Tsai was reportedly at Ma’s side when they formed the company in 1999 and had a starting salary of $50. He was the company’s chief financial officer in 2013 before he was appointed executive vice chairman that same year.
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