Alibaba Cloud Unit CEO Steps Down; Freshippo IPO Reportedly Delayed

Alibaba’s former Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang has stepped down from his roles with the company. Zhang, who had been named CEO in May 2015, recently narrowed his responsibilities to focus on leading the Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group, which Alibaba plans to spin off under a separate management team to be appointed at a later date.

Alibaba gave no official reason for Zhang’s departure, only saying in a statement that “the board of our company expresses its deepest appreciation to Mr. Zhang for his contributions to Alibaba Group over the past 16 years.”

Additionally, Alibaba has put the planned IPO for its Freshippo supermarket division on hold, according to multiple media reports. Freshippo could be valued at approximately $4 billion following early talks with investors, lower than the firm’s $6 to $10 billion potential valuation when fundraising began in 2022. Freshippo had opened 12 new supermarkets in eight Chinese cities and beefed up its backend operations in June 2023, moves many analysts saw as preparation for the IPO.