Yahoo Finance Alibaba demotes senior executive over social media scandal
One of Alibaba's most senior executives has been demoted following an investigation into alleged 'improper behaviour'.
Jiang Fan, the head of the Chinese business’s Tmall and Taobao and divisions was at one stage considered a key contender to take over as chief executive of the Chinese e-commerce giant.
Mr Jiang asked Alibaba to launch an investigation into his conduct and he has been demoted from his partner role inside the company, according to reports.
The move came after social media posts, allegedly made by his wife, which warned another user not to contact her husband.
The executive’s demotion comes after an account on Chinese social media widely reported as belonging to his wife contacted a social media influencer earlier this month and warned her not to contact Mr Jiang again.
The post on the Weibo social network sent to Zhang Dayi, a prominent Chinese social media influencer, reportedly said: “This is the first and last time I’m warning you, come and tease my husband again and I won’t be restrained any longer, this woman is not easy to fight with.”
The posts were first reported by the Financial Times. An internal message sent to Alibaba employees claimed that an investigation by the business found that Mr Jiang “improperly handled his family problems, triggering a serious public relations crisis which harmed the company’s reputation,” Reuters reported.
The executive’s bonus has reportedly been voided following the investigation and his rank lowered from senior vice president to vice president.
Mr Jiang reportedly apologised in an internal Alibaba forum and asked the business to investigate his conduct but has not publicly commented on his demotion.
Chinese media reported that the internal investigation carried out by Alibaba concluded that Mr Jiang had not had any influence over Alibaba’s 2016 decision to invest in influencer agency Ruhnn, which Ms Zhang owns a stake in.
Mr Jiang joined Alibaba in 2013 after selling his analytics business Umeng to the company.
Alibaba announced earlier this month that it plans to invest $28bn (£22.5bn) in its cloud services division amid a surge in demand for software in China following the coronavirus outbreak.
An Alibaba spokesman declined to comment.
