Alibaba Group's CEO Daniel Zhang to succeed Jack Ma as chairman from Sept. 2019

Chinese e-tailer Alibaba Group's Chief Executive Daniel Zhang will be the new chairman, succeeding its co-founder Jack Ma from September 2019, said the global firm on Monday."Ma will continue as the executive chairman of the company over the next 12 months to ensure a smooth transition to Zhang," a statement from Alibaba said.[caption id="attachment_5150571" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Image: Reuters[/caption]Zhang, who was earlier the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Taobao, an online shopping portal owned by the Alibaba Group, was appointed the CEO of the Alibaba Group in 2015.The co-founder of the company, Ma, will however, remain as a board member of the Alibaba Group until the annual shareholder meet in 2020."Ma is a lifetime partner in the Alibaba Partnership and is a member of its partnership committee," the statement added.The Alibaba Partnership has 36 partners, who are the senior management of Alibaba Group or its affiliates.Founded in 1999 by Chinese teacher-turned-entrepreneur Jack Ma as a platform to connect Chinese manufacturers with the world, Hangzhou-based Alibaba stands among one of the largest companies in the world.Apart from its online shopping portals, Alibaba also offers electronic payment services and cloud computing services.