Daniel Zhang: The Architect of Alibaba’s Digital Revolution
Daniel Zhang is one of the most well-known names in Chinese e-commerce, and he has changed a lot of things. Zhang was once the head of Alibaba Group, the world’s largest retail company. His journey from a finance expert to a visionary leader changed the way billions of people shop, sell, and come up with new ideas online. He left Alibaba’s spotlight in 2023, but his mark on the company’s DNA—and on global trade—will never go away. Zhang’s story is a masterclass in being flexible, seeing the big picture, and never giving up on “making it easy to do business anywhere” as Alibaba enters a new era under CEO Eddie Wu.
From being an auditor to starting an e-commerce company
Daniel Yong Zhang (张勇 in Chinese) was born in Shanghai in 1972 and is the perfect example of a self-made tech titan. Zhang got his start at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he learned how to audit and give business advice to big companies. He had a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. People often said that his analytical mind was meticulous and data-driven. This would later become a key part of his leadership style.
Zhang became the chief financial officer of Shanda Interactive Entertainment, an online gaming company that is listed on NASDAQ, in 2006. This is where he first felt the thrill of climbing digital platforms as they grew rapidly. But it was his move to Alibaba in 2007 that made him famous. Zhang joined Taobao Marketplace as CFO at a key time. Taobao Marketplace is Alibaba’s scrappy consumer-to-consumer platform. Taobao and eBay were in a fierce battle for China’s new online shopping market. Taobao not only survived but thrived under his financial management. By 2009, it had 80% of the market thanks to free listings and Alipay’s secure payments.
By 2008, Zhang was the COO of Taobao, in charge of operations that grew the site’s user base to hundreds of millions. In 2011, he got his big break when he was chosen to run Tmall, Alibaba’s business-to-consumer arm, which was renamed from Taobao Mall. Zhang turned Tmall from a new site into a high-end marketplace by using advanced data analysis and targeted marketing to draw in high-end brands like Apple and Burberry. His motto? “Data is the new oil.” Zhang’s teams used predictive algorithms to make personalized suggestions, which turned people who were just looking around into loyal customers.
Getting the Throne: CEO and Chairman
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba and always thinking about who would take over, saw Zhang’s quiet intensity early on. Zhang became Alibaba Group’s chief operating officer in 2013. This put him in the public eye as the company got ready for its huge 2014 IPO, which raised $25 billion, the most money ever raised in an IPO. When Jonathan Lu left in 2015, Zhang took over as CEO at the age of 43. He was the third person to lead the empire, after Ma and Lu.
As CEO, Zhang had to deal with a lot of problems right away: the Chinese economy was slowing down, JD.com and Pinduoduo were becoming more competitive, and Beijing was looking into the company. But he guided Alibaba through with great skill. He sped up the move to mobile commerce, where Alibaba’s apps now account for 90% of all smartphone traffic in China. Zhang also started Cainiao Network, Alibaba’s huge logistics network that delivers more than 100 million packages every day by 2025 using AI-optimized routing.
The 11.11 Singles’ Day event was Zhang’s best work. What began as a cheeky anti-Valentine’s Day joke in 2009 grew into the world’s biggest shopping event while he was in charge. It made $74 billion in sales in 2019, more than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. This was thanks to live-streaming influencers and drone deliveries. “11.11 isn’t just a sale; it’s a cultural phenomenon,” Zhang once said, giving it credit for changing the way people shop for fun.
In September 2019, Ma gave Zhang the chairman’s gavel, making him the official head of Alibaba. Zhang was a strong supporter of “New Retail,” which combined the online and offline worlds. This led to new ideas like Hema (Freshippo) supermarkets, where customers scan QR codes to get their orders right away. They can shop online, eat in-store, and have everything synced through an app. Zhang’s switch to digital health and grocery delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic kept Alibaba going while its competitors fell behind, showing that he knew how to handle a crisis.
The Cloud Whisperer and Quick Exit
Zhang was quietly building Alibaba’s future in the clouds, literally, behind the retail fireworks. He made Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group the AWS of Asia, which led to revenue growth of more than 100% a year in the late 2010s. By 2023, Alibaba Cloud had 4 million customers around the world, and it powered everything from AI startups to government data centers. Zhang wants to create a “full-stack” ecosystem where cloud computing, business, and logistics all come together.
But, in a shocking turn of events for the tech world, Zhang’s Alibaba story came to an end. He announced a change in June 2023, giving Eddie Wu the job of CEO and Joseph Tsai the job of chairman. He kept the cloud reins to lead its spin-off. “This is the right time,” he wrote in a memo to the company, stressing the cloud’s independence. But just a few months later, on September 10, 2023, Zhang quit the cloud job as well, and Wu took over as acting head. Shares of Alibaba fell 3%, and rumors of problems within the company filled the gap. Tsai praised Zhang’s “extraordinary leadership,” but analysts wondered if there were problems with the way China was being run during its antitrust crackdown.
After Alibaba, Zhang has stayed out of the spotlight, just like his nickname “Free and Unfettered Person” (逍遥子) when he joined the company. There are rumors that he will take on advisory roles or even start his own business, but as of 2025, he has enjoyed the freedom he put off for so long.
Legacy: A Plan for Long-Term Digital Success
Daniel Zhang’s time in charge wasn’t perfect. Alibaba’s stock dropped by half from its 2020 highs because of problems with regulators, and he had to deal with the fallout from Ma’s 2020 regulatory mistake. Some people said he was too focused on numbers and didn’t have Ma’s charm. But numbers win wars. Alibaba’s revenue tripled to $134 billion by fiscal 2023 under Zhang, and its ecosystem reached 1.3 billion people.
Zhang’s planned succession, which is similar to Ma’s “102-year” philosophy, is still in place as Alibaba splits into six parts and looks to the future of AI. He showed that e-commerce is more than just buying and selling; it’s a way for people to connect. Daniel Zhang didn’t just run Alibaba; he wired the future in a world where borders are blurry and algorithms rule.
He might say, quoting his favorite book, the Tao Te Ching, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single click.” Zhang’s steps have brought us a long way; now it’s up to us to walk the rest of the way.