On March 1st, a reporter from First Financial News learned that Alibaba Group CEO Wu Yongming issued an internal letter to all employees of the local lifestyle group (Gaode and Ele.me), stating that Yu Yongfu will step down as the chairman and CEO of the local lifestyle group, and Ele.me and Gaode will respectively set up a chairman and CEO. This personnel change will take effect at the end of Alibaba's fiscal year (March 31).
After Yu Yongfu steps down, Wu Zeming (Fan Yu) will serve as the chairman of Ele.me, Han Liu (Haochen) will serve as the CEO of Ele.me, Liu Zhenfei (Zhenfei), the former president of Gaode, will serve as the chairman of Gaode, and COO Guo Ning will serve as the CEO of Gaode. According to the internal letter, Yu Yongfu is still a partner of Alibaba and will explore more internationalization through investment based on eWTP funds, while providing more strategic support for the business.
At the same time as Yu Yongfu's handover, Ele.me will also welcome a younger management team.
Previously, there were multiple rumors of Ele.me being sold, and Alibaba's plans for Ele.me have attracted external attention. On February 7th, Alibaba once again refuted rumors of selling Ele.me during a earnings conference call and stated, "For Alibaba, Ele.me is a 'near field' important asset, and there is no need to further emphasize this."
From the perspective of Ele.me's new management team, Alibaba is promoting further alignment between Ele.me and the group's strategy. In September 2023, after officially taking over as CEO of Alibaba Group, Wu Yongming issued a letter to all employees stating that Alibaba will reshape its business strategic priorities based on the two major strategic priorities of user first and AI driven. At the same time, Wu Yongming also put forward clear requirements and goals for the rejuvenation of the management team. Within 4 years, it is necessary to have the 85 and 90 generations as the main managers refresh the business management team, and create a mechanism and cultural environment that enables more young Alibaba people to become the core force of Alibaba.
The reporter learned that Wu Zeming, the soon to be chairman of Ele.me, is one of the youngest post-80s partners who have grown from frontline technical positions at Alibaba. Joined Taobao in 2004 and is a core member of Alibaba's e-commerce system technology architecture construction. In the past five years, he has served as the President of Alibaba's New Retail Technology Business Group, Head of Local Life Business Technology Center, Chief Technology Officer of Local Life Business, and Head of Business Efficiency Product Center. Starting from December 2022, he/she will serve as the Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba Group and Vice President of Alibaba Dharma Institute. Starting from April 2023, he/she will also serve as the CEO of Alibaba's wholly-owned subsidiary, Aicheng Technology, and the Chief Technology Officer of Taotian Group.
Han Liu, born in 1988, is one of the youngest CEOs of the post-85s generation within the Alibaba Group, with rich experience in business flow and logistics in far-field, medium, and near-field e-commerce. Formerly served as Senior Vice President of Ele.me, Head of Local Retail Business, and President of Hummingbird. Over the past three years, Han Liu has significantly improved the efficiency of the Hummingbird ready to use platform, actively promoted the construction of the Ele.me logistics supercomputing platform, and built a new system for the growth, development, and guarantee of the Blue Knight. A person close to Alibaba commented to a journalist from First Financial that both are top-notch managers of the same age and level, who possess both professional and management skills.
Wu Zeming with a technological background may drive Ele.me further towards technological upgrading and even AI driven development. The reporter learned that currently, Ele.me has completed 100% cloud deployment. In the future, Ele.me will leverage AI computing power and technology to optimize the dynamic and optimal route planning of riders, enhance merchant and user interaction, and more.
According to the financial report data, Alibaba's local life is still waiting to turn losses into profits. Alibaba's performance for the third quarter of the 2024 fiscal year showed that Alibaba Life Group's adjusted EBITA (operating profit and loss) for the quarter was 2.068 billion yuan, a 30% decrease from the loss of 2.923 billion yuan in the same period last year.