Taobao Splits into Three Independent Companies
Alizila PR, 6/16/11
In an e-mail to the staff of Hangzhou-based C2C & B2C e-commerce subsidiary Taobao, Alibaba Group chairman and CEO Jack Ma today announced that Taobao will be split into three companies - online search engine eTao, B2C and C2C platform Taobao Marketplace (Taobao.com), and B2C platform Taobao Mall - with independent management teams.
In the e-mail, Ma said that Taobao was shifting from its "Big Taobao" strategy, launched in 2009, to a "Big Ali" strategy aimed at integrating all of Alibaba Group's resources to be shared among all e-commerce parties, including consumers, merchants, manufacturing, and supply chain partners, in order to offer comprehensive e-commerce infrastructure services. Ma argued the split will foster innovation since smaller organizations operating like start-ups have a greater competitive advantage than large ones.
Effective immediately, Jonathan Lu will step down as president and CEO of Taobao to focus on his other role as CEO of Chinese B2B e-commerce company Alibaba.com (1688.HK), supported by CFO Maggie Wu, general manager of Alibaba.com's International Core Business Unit (ICBU) Sabrina Peng, general manager of Alibaba.com's China Business Unit (CBU) Ye Peng, VP of HR Deng Kangming, VP of Technology Andy Li, and VP of Supplier Services Sophie Wu.
The three "Tao" companies will be run by their respective leadership teams each led by a president and a non-executive chairman. Eddie Wu will lead eTao as president and report to eTao chairwoman Lucy Peng. Leo Jiang will lead Taobao Marketplace as president and report to Taobao Marketplace chairman Jonathan Lu. Daniel Zhang will lead Taobao Mall as president and report to Taobao Mall chairman Zeng Ming. The technology and shared services platform will be under the leadership of Trudy Dai, who will directly report to the Group CEO Jack Ma.
Keywords: corporate restructuring Big Ali Andy Li Sophie Wu Eddie Wu Lucy Peng Leo Jiang Daniel Zhang Trudy Dai Jack Ma Ye Peng Jonathan Lu e-commerce Taobao Internet strategy online search B2C C2C HR Zeng Ming Deng Kangming Sabrina Peng Big Taobao Maggie Wu Alibaba Group Etao Taobao Mall 1688.HK Alibaba.com spin-off
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