Alibaba, the Chinese business empire focused on e-commerce that entrepreneur Jack Ma built over two decades is being effectively dismantled, says The Wall Street Journal. Alibaba says it plans to split itself into six independently run companies, each of which could seek IPOs.
The reorganization marks a dramatic overhaul of one of China’s largest private companies, one that was once valued at over $800 billion but now is worth about a quarter of that.
The split comes after Chinese authorities signaled recently they were winding down a regulatory clampdown aimed at reining in the country’s powerful tech sector. It culminates a shift inside Alibaba to become more nimble after Ma stepped back from the company’s helm in 2019. That centralization drive was aimed at creating a sprawling ecosystem from payments to logistics, but the so-called Alibaba economy has faced challenges beyond its home market.
