Alibaba announces new CEO amid 49pc profit dip for Q1

7 May 2015

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will have a new person at the helm as the company’s COO, Daniel Zhang, is set to be announced as its new CEO amid a profit slash of almost 50pc.

Zhang will replace current CEO Jonathan Lu, after his stint of almost two years in charge of the company; he will remain on its executive board.

According to The New York Times, the decision comes after the company reported rather worrying financial figures for its Q1 report, with a net profit of US$463m, which is down 49pc from the same time last year and is also lower than market analysts had predicted.

However, the company did manage to make revenues of US$2.8bn for the same period.

Alibaba’s co-founder, Jack Ma, has become wary of the company’s recent financial trend in recent months, having announced that the company must begin a policy of greater efficiency and an immediate hiring freeze.

The company are now in the middle of a battle with the Chinese government over issues with the regulator that saw a number of fake items posted to the service.

Zhang has been with the company for a number of years in different positions, including as manager of Alibaba’s subsidiary, Tmall.

Alibaba Group image via Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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