Alibaba is planning to split into six business units in a radical break-up that comes after Beijing’s crackdown on China’s tech giants, reports the Financial Times. The shake-up would put a separate chief executive and board in place for each unit, the company said, and could lead to some of the mini Alibabas adopting separate public listings.
The announcement came just a day after Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma made a rare public appearance in mainland China, a visit that Beijing hopes will boost investor confidence that it has healed ties with the country’s private sector.
Over the past two years Alibaba has dealt with a record $2.8 billion fine by Chinese regulators for monopolistic behaviour, as well as the country’s stuttering economic growth and a rush of new ecommerce competitors. Two people close to the matter said Alibaba presented its restructuring plan to China’s regulators before announcing it publicly and received positive feedback.