This move comes 20 months after Alibaba's decision to split into six separate units. The company has been facing increased competition from rivals such as Pinduoduo, Temu, ByteDance’s Douyin and TikTok. Alibaba's recent quarterly earnings showed growth in its retail and cloud businesses, driven by its AI offerings. The company also launched an AI-powered search engine for global B2B sourcing.
Key takeaways:
- Alibaba is merging its domestic and international eCommerce businesses into one unit, the Alibaba E-commerce Business Group, which includes Taobao, Tmall Group, and the Alibaba International Digital Commerce (AIDC) Group.
- Fan Jiang, CEO of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, will become the chief executive of the new business.
- The move comes 20 months after Alibaba's decision to divide into six separate units, the largest change in its 25-year history.
- Alibaba's AI offerings have been fueling growth in both its retail and cloud businesses, with the company expecting sellers to increase their marketing spending on its platform due to the efficiency of its AI-powered marketing tool, Quanzhantui.