Alibaba’s South Asian Arm Gets New CEO in Latest Exec Shuffle

(Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s South Asian online retailer Daraz Group installed a new chief executive officer, the latest in a series of management shuffles at the Chinese e-commerce juggernaut.

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James Dong, 44, who heads Alibaba’s Southeast Asian arm Lazada Group SA, will replace Daraz founder Bjarke Mikkelsen as acting CEO with immediate effect and oversee its operations in addition to his other duties, Daraz said in a statement Wednesday.

Mikkelsen is the latest executive to depart the once-dominant Chinese tech firm that’s since been hobbled by lackluster post-Covid consumption, a years-long government crackdown and the ascent of rivals including PDD Holdings Inc. and ByteDance Ltd.

Alibaba’s international division has grown to become one of its fastest-growing businesses and has explored an eventual initial public offering, but competition is intensifying, particularly in Asia.

Lazada is cutting jobs as it battles Sea Ltd.’s Shopee as well as ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok Shop in the rapidly evolving Southeast Asian e-commerce landscape. TikTok Shop last December restarted its operations in Indonesia after agreeing to invest $1.5 billion in a joint venture with Indonesia’s GoTo Group.

READ MORE: Alibaba’s Global Online Commerce Arm Weighs a US IPO (3)

Dong will work to integrate Daraz with the different companies in Alibaba’s international online shopping unit, Mikkelson said in the statement. “With this structure, we will have a more focused strategy and efficient business model,” he said.

A one-time business assistant to former group CEO Daniel Zhang, Dong headed Alibaba’s globalization strategy and corporate development before joining Lazada as head of Thailand operations in 2018, according to the company’s website. He became Lazada’s CEO in 2022.

Alibaba acquired Daraz from Rocket Internet SE in 2018 in an overseas foray that now spans Lazada in Southeast Asia and Trendyol in Turkey. The Pakistani firm, which also operates in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, last February cut 11% of jobs to weather a slump in online commerce, after the war in Ukraine and soaring inflation disrupted supply chains and economic growth.

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