Ant Group president and chief financial officer Cyril Han will take over as chief executive officer starting next yr, the financial technology giant said on Sunday, because it looks to spice up growth following Beijing's crackdown on the tech sector.
According to an email obtained by CNBC announcing the changes, Han will take over the role from Eric Jing, who stays chairman. Han will report back to Jing and the changes will take effect on March 1, 2025.
Ant Group, which runs the large payment app Alipay, is one in every of China's largest technology corporations. The changes in management were announced as a part of the corporate's twentieth anniversary celebrations, at which a speech was also given Alibaba and Ant Group founder Jack Ma.
Ma said his generation was fortunate to benefit from the opportunities the Internet provided. However, the era of artificial intelligence in the subsequent 20 years would “beyond anyone's imagination,” Ma said, in accordance with a transcript published by Chinese media.
It is a rare public appearance by Ma, who has been affected by the Chinese government's regulatory tightening of the domestic technology sector. Ant Group's record-breaking stock market listing was abruptly canceled by Chinese authorities at the top of 2020. Since then, Ant Group has overhauled its business to comply with regulators' requirements.
Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company that Ma co-founded, was also the topic of Beijing's investigation.
The crackdown hurt the expansion of lots of China's biggest technology corporations, but regulators have recently softened their stance as China's economy stays under pressure.
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