Alibaba names new CEO as it makes mobile push

Dive Brief:

Alibaba Group Holding announced Thursday that COO Daniel Zhang will become CEO of the company as of May 10, replacing current CEO Jonathan Lu who will remain on the board as vice chairman.
The company also announced its quarterly earnings, reporting that its revenue rose 45% to $2.81 billion. Gross merchandise volume increased 40% year over year, to $97 billion, and annual active buyers rose to 350 million, an increase of 37% year over year.
The company said it had 289 million monthly active users on its mobile e-commerce apps in March, a whopping increase of 77%, and GMV on mobile was $49 billion in the quarter ended March 31. Mobile GMV was 51% of total GMV, up from 42% the previous quarter.

Dive Insight:

Executive Chairman and founder Jack Ma explained in a letter to employees that this chief executive shuffle is part of an overall company goal to bring in a younger generation of leaders.

"We always believe that young people are better at developing the future because they are our future. Investing in the younger generation is investing in our own future," said Ma in the letter.

The CEO change is accompanied by other executive shifts; Alibaba's CTO, chief risk officer, CMO, and chief strategy officer will also change responsibilities beginning May 10. According to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for the company said these executives will "take new roles in the strategic decision committee."

Age is one reason Ma relinquished his CEO post in 2013, saying in an email to staff, "At 48, I am no longer 'young' for the Internet business."

"The Internet belongs to young people," he continued. "This year, most of the Alibaba leaders who were born in the 1960s will retreat from management and execution roles as we hand over leadership responsibility to colleagues from the 70s and 80s generations. Because, we believe that they understand the future better than us, and they have a better chance at seizing the future.”

Though Alibaba has reported continued revenue increases since its IPO in September, the company has struggled on mobile and with pressure to limit faux and fraudulent goods from Chinese and American authorities. Ma last month also announced that hiring at the company would be frozen, in order to allow for more careful growth.

Perhaps Ma sees new CEO Zhang as key part of this careful growth. Since becoming COO in September 2013, the company said that Zhang became the key architect behind Alibaba's most successful shopping event, Singles Day. It seems that Ma believes that both his experience, and Zhang's younger age, might help the company with its mobile push and potential innovation.