Alibaba trims partnership as company bets on younger leaders

Alibaba Group Holding has trimmed its partnership – a key corporate governance body for the e-commerce and artificial intelligence (AI) giant – as it embraces younger business leaders and strives to return to a start-up mindset.

Nine executives and company veterans – including former CEO Daniel Zhang Yong, 53, and fellow co-founders Trudy Dai Shan, 48, and Lucy Peng Lei, 51, who started the company with Jack Ma in 1999 – have exited the partnership, according to Alibaba’s annual report released late on Thursday.

The reduction brings the number of partners down from 26 to 17. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Many of the departing partners are no longer in leading roles in the company’s major business segments.

Daniel Zhang Yong, former CEO and chairman of Alibaba. Photo: Winson Wong

Zhang, who became CEO in 2015 and chairman in 2019, stepped down from both roles in 2023. Dai, an early aide to Ma, took over as CEO of the domestic e-commerce unit, Taobao and Tmall Group, in early 2023, but was replaced by group CEO Eddie Wu Yongming later that year.

Others who left the partnership include Maggie Wu Wei, director of the digital entertainment unit, and Yu Yongfu, former head of local services.

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