Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company, announced Monday that it is recruiting a new chief financial officer and restructuring its e-commerce operations in response to a regulatory crackdown in the technology sector.
Toby Xu will succeed Maggie Wu as the business's new chief financial officer on April 1, 2022, the company announced Monday. Xu joined Alibaba three years ago from PricewaterhouseCoopers and was promoted to deputy group CFO in July 2019.
Wu, who has served as Alibaba's CFO since 2013 and has assisted in offering three Alibaba-related companies, will continue to serve as an executive director on the company's board of directors.
She will also continue as a partner in the Alibaba Partnership, a group of senior executives with authority to designate a simple majority of the board of directors of Alibaba.
"We are long-term oriented, and succession within our management team is always in the interest of strengthening and better positioning Alibaba for the future," said Daniel Zhang, chairman, and CEO of Alibaba Group.
Separately, Alibaba announced the formation of an International Digital Commerce team to oversee the company's e-commerce operations in international regions. According to a post on the company's Alizila news site, a China Digital Commerce team will charge e-commerce activities within China.
Jiang Fan and Trudy Dai will lead the international and domestic digital commerce teams.
Jiang previously led Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba's primary e-commerce platforms in China. Dai previously served as the firm's chief customer officer.
The Hangzhou-based company was fined a record $2.8 billion for antitrust violations and is now under increased scrutiny as regulators tighten their grip on the technology sector during a period of economic slowing.
Alibaba lowered its sales forecast for the year last month, citing increased competition from rivals such as Pinduoduo. It anticipates the slowest growth in the current fiscal year since it went public in New York in 2014.
Alibaba's iconic Singles' Day shopping extravaganza also experienced its slowest rise in history this year, owing to restrained marketing efforts and a shift toward sustainability and philanthropy in response to Chinese President Xi Jinping's appeals for "common prosperity."
Alibaba's New York stock price fell more than 50% last year. On Monday, the company's Hong Kong-listed shares fell 4.9 percent.
