AliExpress parent company Alibaba will split into six business units

Chinese tech giant Alibaba will split into six business units with their own CEOs and shareholders. In this way, the company wants to be able to respond better to the market and to grow more. AliExpress will fall under the Global Digital Commerce group.

The Alibaba Group will become a holding company under which the six business units will fall. After the split, these six units can raise investments themselves or go public, if they choose to do so. Only Taobao Tmall Commerce Group remains wholly owned by Alibaba, says the company. This group will have Trudy Dai as CEO and will include digital marketplaces such as Taobao and Tmall, Taobao Deals, Taocaicai and 1688.com.

The international marketplaces such as AliExpress, Lazada, Trendyol, Daraz and Alibaba.com will fall under the Global Digital Commerce Group. Jiang Fan becomes CEO of this. There is also the Cloud Intelligence Group, which includes all cloud and AI activities, of which Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang becomes CEO. The other three groups are navigation arm Local Services Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics and Digital Media and Entertainment Group. The latter includes, for example, Alibaba Pictures.

Alibaba says the current reorganization is the largest in the company’s 24-year history. Zhang expects the split to enable the business units to respond more quickly to changes in the market and to give shareholders a better understanding of what they are investing in. It’s not clear if the decision has anything to do with Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma’s recent return to China.