Alibaba Restructure Sees Zhang Replaced as CEO; EU to Probe Adobe-Figma Deal

by Hannah Dillon on 21st Jun 2023 in News

In today's ExchangeWire news digest: Daniel Zhang is to be replaced as CEO and chairman of Alibaba; Adobe's planned acquisition of Figma faces a probe from EU regulators; and Germany's Bild tabloid replaces staff with AI.

Alibaba replaces Zhang as chairman and CEO

Daniel Zhang is to be replaced as chairman and CEO of Alibaba as the company undergoes its biggest restructure to date. Alibaba co-founder and executive chairman Joseph Tsai will succeed Zhang as chairman, while Eddie Wu, chairman of the company’s e-commerce arm Taobao, will serve as CEO. Both appointments will come into effect in September, after which Zhang will continue to serve as chairman and CEO of Alibaba’s cloud unit.

Adobe-Figma deal faces probe in EU

Adobe’s plan to acquire rival platform Figma could be blocked as it faces an official probe in the EU. The proposed USD$20bn (~£15.6bn) acquisition has sparked anti-competition concerns for EU regulators, particularly around higher prices and reduced innovation. Adobe previously stated that it expected “lengthy reviews” of the deal, which values Figma at fifty times its annual recurring revenue.

Bild to replace editorial staff with AI

One of Europe's highest-selling newspapers, Bild, is set to replace a range of editorial staff with artificial intelligence. The move comes as the German newspaper undertakes a €100m (~£85.3m) cost-cutting programme which is expected to result in hundreds of redundancies. In an email to staff, Bild’s parent company Axel Springer SE confirmed it would “unfortunately be parting ways with colleagues who have tasks that in the digital world are performed by AI and/or automated processes”, adding that the roles of “editors, print production staff, subeditors, proofreaders and photo editors will no longer exist as they do today”.