As Jack Ma era ends, Alibaba sets high goal for cloud business

Successor Daniel Zhang aims to double group's user base to 2 billion by 2036

Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma, left, with Daniel Zhang, his successor as chairman and CEO, in 2015. © Reuters

NIKKI SUN, Nikkei staff writer

September 30, 2020 15:44 JST

Updated on September 30, 2020 18:41 JST

HONG KONG -- Alibaba Group Holding's cloud services business will turn a profit for the first time this year thanks to work-from-home demand driven by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Daniel Zhang, the group's chairman and chief executive.

He made the announcement during an investor briefing on Wednesday, hours ahead of Alibaba's annual general meeting where Jack Ma, Zhang's predecessor, will officially exit the board of the company he started in a small Hangzhou apartment in 1999.