Alibaba woos back DingTalk founder to lead office app's AI push
Chen Hang, who created the app in 2015 and left Alibaba in 2021 to pursue his own venture, will return as the new DingTalk CEO. The news comes as Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, plans to acquire a stake in Chen's Hangzhou-based start-up HHO, the representative said.
HHO has raised at least two funding rounds since its launch, with backing from venture capital funds, including Vision Plus Capital, an investment firm started by Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming, according to Chinese corporate database Tianyancha.
The leadership reshuffle was first reported by Chinese tech news outlet 36Kr on Monday. Ye Jun, the former CEO of DingTalk, will transition to a new role within Alibaba, according to 36Kr. He is currently working in Alibaba's CEO office, according to his DingTalk page.
The changes highlight Alibaba's intensified focus on AI, as the Hangzhou-based firm seeks to capitalise on the global frenzy around generative AI models and specialised applications, an area of particular focus for the company.
Advertisement
DingTalk, with 700 million users as of the end of 2023, is seen as a key asset in Alibaba's AI strategy. The app generated more than US$200 million in annual recurring revenue – primarily from subscriptions – in the first half of the company's financial year, covering the six months through September.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Trump is right to reverse Biden's failed curbs on chips to China
China policy – or for that matter any policy – coming out of the Donald Trump White House is not usually known for being the product of considered thought and deliberation. Advertisement But allowing China to resume buying more legacy chips other than the most advanced ones may be its most rational and defensible yet. Negotiations after Geneva and London led to China loosening export controls on rare earths and the US allowing chipmakers such as Nvidia to resume selling its H20 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China. That's usually interpreted as a quid pro quo. However, it's clear Washington also thinks it's good policy as well as good for business. H20 was tailor-made for the China market when the US started imposing chip curbs. But it eventually fell under expanding US restrictions covering even legacy ones. At one time, Gina Raimondo, Joe Biden's commerce secretary, boasted that she would tighten the curbs every time a firm like Nvidia tried to get around them. But it soon became clear that the curbs weren't working. First, the squeeze actually made China move quickly to refashion its entire chipmaking industry. When Raimondo was making an official visit to Beijing in the summer of 2023, Huawei released its Kirin 9000s chip for its Mate 60 smartphones, using China's SMIC 7nm node. That was a clear challenge to Raimondo and her boss at the White House. Advertisement Soon, articles questioning the effectiveness of the chip curbs were appearing in mainstream American media, including Foreign Affairs, the semi-official publication of the US foreign policy establishment.
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China and the US wanted Sweden to host their next round of trade talks – why?
Chinese and American negotiators will gather in Stockholm for a much-anticipated third round of trade talks on Monday, putting the Swedish capital in the spotlight and prompting questions as to why the Scandinavian country was the venue of choice for the world's two biggest economies. It began at a meeting of finance chiefs from the Group of 20 countries in South Africa earlier this month, where Sweden had been invited for the first time. Both China and the US approached the delegation from Stockholm about holding the talks in the capital, said Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson in a July 22 social media post. 'That the world's largest economies turn to us shows that Sweden enjoys great international trust – and that we play an important role in fostering dialogue and cooperation.' Hosting US-China trade negotiations in third countries is a marked change from the dialogues that put a temporary freeze on the bilateral trade war during the first term of US President Donald Trump. Those talks were principally held in Washington, with then-Vice-Premier Liu He making regular visits to the White House. Now, neutral territory has been selected in Europe – Geneva in May, London in June and Stockholm for the coming negotiations – suggesting a more level playing field between the two economies, according to Niklas Swanstrom, director of the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm.
South China Morning Post
10 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
US business leaders to visit China as both sides meet for latest round of trade talks
A high-level American business delegation will visit China this week on a trip that coincides with the latest round of US-China trade talks, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The trip to Beijing will be organised by the US-China Business Council and led by FedEx chief executive Rajesh Subramaniam, the council's board chair. The full list of visiting business leaders and schedule is not known but both sources said that Boeing executives and the president of the council Sean Stein were certain to be part of the delegation. 'They are expected to meet with Chinese officials - potentially to revive business discussions,' a source said. The council has not responded to requests for comment. The council regularly organises visits to China that coincide with significant events and involve meetings with senior officials. Last year's visit coincided with a major policy meeting in Beijing and included senior executives from Apple, Boeing, Goldman Sachs and Micro Technology. The upcoming visit will be the highest-level American business delegation since US President Donald Trump started his latest tariff war in April.
