(Yicai) Sept. 11 -- Shares of Alibaba Group Holding fell after the company’s former Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang resigned from CEO and chairman of Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group on the same day he was set to handle the reins of the Chinese e-commerce giant.

Alibaba [HKG: 9988] closed 2 percent down at HKD89 (USD11.35) today, after earlier plunging as much as 4.4 percent.

Zhang resigned as chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud, and Eddie Wu, who is now the CEO of Alibaba, will replace him, Alibaba’s new Chairman Joseph Tsai said in an internal letter to employees yesterday.

Alibaba announced in June that Zhang stepped down and co-founder Joseph Tsai and Eddie Wu would take over the company on Sept. 10 as the new chairman of the board and chief executive, respectively. Meanwhile, Zhang would concentrate all efforts on Alibaba Cloud, where he would serve as chairman and CEO, the Hangzhou-based parent company added.

Back then, Zhang revealed he decided to leave Alibaba because the company spun off Alibaba Cloud, which was in its most critical period of upward development, so he had to devote all his time to it.

In yesterday’s letter, Tsai expressed his gratitude to Zhang for his efforts and contributions to the group in the past 16 years. He also said that Alibaba will invest USD1 billion to support Zhang in setting up a future-oriented technology fund.

Alibaba also awarded Zhang the first Meritorious Ali Member honorary title in the company’s history, Tsai noted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione