Amid Beijing’s crackdown on its Big Tech, Alibaba Group, in one of its biggest reshuffles, announced the promotion of Toby Xu as the company's chief financial officer (CFO) from April 2022. Toby will replace Maggie Wu, who has served as the company's CFO since 2013. Maggie however will continue to remain an executive director on the company board.

South China Morning Post said that “the management reshuffle comes as the company navigates a new regulatory environment amid Beijing’s crackdown on the country’s tech sector.” Incidentally the news organization is promoted by Alibaba.

“We are focused on the long-term, and succession within our management team on every occasion is always in the service of ensuring Alibaba will be stronger and better positioned for the future,” Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group however said.

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Alibaba has also split its digital commerce division into two, to deal with the international and domestic markets separately.

Alibaba’s annual active consumers in the international markets reached 285 million. In the last quarterly earnings report, the e-commerce major “also reiterated its ambitious long-term goal of serving 2 billion consumers globally.”

Meanwhile, China’s overall crackdown on its tech industry has drawn global attention, making many investors wary.

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba and the country’s poster boy ran into trouble with the authorities after he openly criticized the government and regulatory bodies last year. Subsequently, Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Alibaba Group was barred from launching its initial public offering (IPO) — barely two days before it was slated to hit the market.