Alibaba appoints Daniel Zhang as chief executive

18:56 • 07.05.15
Economy

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has replaced its chief executive.

Daniel Zhang, who is currently Alibaba's chief operating officer, will take over as boss from Jonathan Lu.

The news came as the firm, founded by entrepreneur Jack Ma, announced a 45% rise in revenue to 17.43bn yuan ($2.8bn) for the three months to March.

It said user numbers had jumped 37% to 350 million. Alibaba has 80% of Chinese online shopping, and operates its most popular online platform, Taobao.

The results were better than expected and Alibaba's shares rose 7.5% in pre-US market trading.

Jonathan Lu will remain on the board of directors of Alibaba Group as vice chairman.

Daniel Zhang is one of the founding members of the Alibaba Partnership and has been with the company for eight years.

The results are the second since Alibaba's record-breaking $25bn flotation in New York in September.

Its share price soared from $94 on listing to $119 in less than two months. However, shares are now trading at $80.

The group, founded by entrepreneur and billionaire Jack Ma, announced a hiring freeze last month, saying the company was growing too fast.

Alibaba has spent heavily on US internet companies. It recently invested $200m in messaging app Snapchat.

Chief financial officer Maggie Wu said Alibaba expected its growth on spending on new investments to outstrip growth in overall revenues.

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