Daniel Zhang Quits Alibaba's Cloud Business

China's Alibaba Group made an unexpected announcement over the weekend that Daniel Zhang would step down from his position in the company's cloud business.

This move comes just two months after Alibaba disclosed that Zhang would be leaving his roles as group CEO and chairman to concentrate on the cloud unit. I Photo: Alibaba Group

This move comes just two months after Alibaba disclosed that Zhang would be leaving his roles as group CEO and chairman to concentrate on the cloud unit. The report was provided by Brenda Goh for Reuters.

Previously, Zhang had been concurrently holding three positions, leading the Alibaba Group and overseeing the cloud intelligence unit.

The cloud intelligence unit is China's largest cloud provider and is slated to be separated from Alibaba as part of the group's restructuring.

The company conveyed Zhang's decision to depart from the unit through an internal letter addressed to staff, which was seen by Reuters.

Zhang had been scheduled to pass on the role of group CEO to Eddie Wu on Sunday, and according to the letter, Wu will also assume responsibility for the cloud business after Zhang's departure.

In a statement, Alibaba expressed its deepest appreciation to Zhang for his contributions to the Alibaba Group during his 16-year tenure, and it simply announced that Wu would succeed Zhang in his roles within the cloud unit.

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