"The board of our Company expresses its deepest appreciation to Mr. Zhang for his contributions to Alibaba Group over the past 16 years," Alibaba said in the Sunday statement.
Zhang will continue to contribute to Alibaba by"channeling his expertise differently," according to an internal letter to staff, which reportedly said Alibaba will invest $1 billion in a technology fund that Zhang would establish. "The Company will continue to execute its previously announced plan to spin off Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group under a separate management team to be appointed," subject to the restructuring plan and relevant approvals, Alibaba has said.In a major restructuring plan in March,in March, paving the way for each unit to raise outside funding and go public.
Alibaba has faced slowing economic growth at home and tougher regulation from Beijing, resulting in billions being wiped off its share price.