Chinese online retail giant Alibaba on Monday named a new chief executive officer after high-profile founder Jack Ma said he would step down in May. Alibaba Group said in a statement Lu Zhaoxi, the current executive vice president and a 13-year veteran of the company, would take up the post on May 10. Ma set up Alibaba in 1999, convincing friends to fund him with $60,000 to start the Chinese online retailer which later became one of the world's biggest trading sites.
Lu was previously founding president of the firm's online payment platform Alipay and chief executive officer of subsidiary Alibaba.com, the group said in a separate statement on its corporate website.