Alibaba, China’s largest ecommerce company by revenue, announced an internal restructuring yesterday as the group seeks to refocus management control in the hands of founder Jack Ma.
Its two online marketplaces for trade between businesses – one Chinese and one international – have been transformed into two business groups that will report directly to Mr Ma. This in effect dissolves Alibaba.com, the marketplace for business-to-business deals that had operated the two websites and that the group took private last month.
The changes follow a deal in May for Yahoo’s exit as a shareholder in Alibaba Group and are seen as part of a transformation that could pave the way for a listing of the entire group.