(Yicai Global) June 20 -- Alibaba Group Holding’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang is standing down on Sept. 10 in order to run the Chinese e-commerce giant’s cloud computing arm and is handing the top job to Executive Vice President Joseph Tsai in a major shake-up of senior management.

The two top posts will be split between Tsai, who will now be chairman, and Wu Yongming, who will be the new CEO and continue to serve as chairman of the Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, the Hangzhou-based firm said today.

Tsai is a company veteran who served as chief financial officer from 1999 to 2013 and led the firm's listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Wu has served as chief technology officer in Alibaba’s core business units such as Taobao and mobile payment platform Alipay.

Zhang in the meantime will shift to the Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group where he will be chairman and CEO and work towards improving its competitiveness in the field and globally, he said in a letter to all employees today.

This way Alibaba Cloud will provide higher quality, safer and more convenient basic services for the digital and intelligent upgrading of businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, he added.

In March, Alibaba said it will spin off its six main business groups, Alibaba Cloud, Taobao Tmall Commerce, Local Services Group, Cainiao Network, International Digital Commerce and Digital Media and Entertainment Group, into separate companies that can be independently financed or listed.

Alibaba's self-transformation is proceeding smoothly, and listing and financing plans for several of the business units are already underway, Zhang said. Alibaba will have a new shape in the future, he added.

Editor: Kim Taylor