Alibaba’s South Asian platform Daraz names new CEO in latest executive reshuffling at the Chinese e-commerce giant
- Lazada Group CEO James Dong will now also lead Daraz Group and build on the two Alibaba subsidiaries’ ‘extensive collaborations and synergies’
- Since undergoing a big corporate overhaul in 2023, Alibaba has made several leadership changes as it fends off competition from Pinduoduo owner PDD
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.
