Alibaba’s South Asian platform Daraz names new CEO in latest executive reshuffling at the Chinese e-commerce giant

James Dong, who already runs Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada Group, has been appointed as the platform’s acting CEO, Daraz Group said in a statement on Wednesday. He replaced Daraz founder Bjarke Mikkelsen as head of the company, taking over all his existing duties.

Daraz and Lazada, another Alibaba subsidiary, have long had “extensive collaborations and synergies”, the company said. Dong was installed to “support the long-term healthy development” of Daraz, and to lead the two firms towards “greater mutual learning and collaboration”, according to the company.

Alibaba also owns the South China Morning Post.

The new CEO will work to deepen integration between Daraz and its sister companies, and the move aims to bring the company a “more focused strategy and efficient business model”, Mikkelsen, the founder, said in the company statement.

Dong, 44, took over as Lazada CEO in June 2022 after stints running the company’s Thailand and Vietnam operations. Prior to that, Dong was Alibaba’s head of globalisation strategy and corporate development.

Last month, the e-commerce juggernaut reshuffled the top ranks of its biggest domestic profit earner, Taobao and Tmall Group (TTG), and installed TTG chairman Eddie Wu Yongming as the group’s new CEO.

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Alibaba has also been taking more steps to boost its international businesses, as budget shopping platforms Shein and Temu, another PDD brand, rapidly expand.

The company last month injected US$634 million into Lazada, taking the total amount of cash injections to the Singapore-headquartered company to around US$7.4 billion since Alibaba acquired it in 2016.

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