The company’s chairman and CEO, Daniel Zhang, said the restructuring would enable each separate business to pursue its own fundraising and public listing plans.

Hangzhou-based Alibaba said the moves were intended to “unlock shareholder value and foster market competitiveness”.

Under the new arrangement, each of the six newly established units will be managed by its own CEO and board of directors.

A key exception to the restructuring is Taobao Tmall Commerce Group — the operator of one of China’s top online purchasing platforms — which will remain wholly owned by Alibaba Group.

Recent years have seen the internet giant face unprecedented headwinds as Beijing has imposed tighter restrictions on the domestic tech industry.

Combined revenue at China’s internet companies shrank by just over one percent to 1.46 trillion yuan ($212 billion) in 2022, the first contraction in almost a decade, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has kept a low profile since late 2020, when a speech he made attacking Chinese regulators was followed by Beijing pulling the plug on Alibaba affiliate Ant Group’s planned IPO.

Ma has been spotted around the world over the past two years, but made a rare public appearance in China on Monday after his fall from grace

Alibaba supported the move and also said that states can’t be destroying items generating funds for other states and still collect the same money when it is shared with them.

Sharing a screenshot of Governor Nyesom Wike’s Facebook post in which he disclosed that Rivers and Lagos states had their allocation slashed while Kano kept what it generated, the comedian advocated for states to control their resources and pay between 15-30% of their internally generated revenue to the centre to help run the government.

He said this will help stop the agitation for state creation, make federal appointments unattractive, reduce ghost workers, put an end to religious issues and also reveal what the true population of a state is.

Alibaba wrote “You can not be destroying in your state what is generating funds for other states and collecting same funds when it is shared to you. That’s why all states should control their resources and pay between 15-30% of their IGR to the centre to help run the government.  Trust me, all the agitation for state creation will reduce.  Governors who want to carry on like their states are as financially buoyant as Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta…..will know what bankruptcy is.  You will see what the real population of the state is. All those crazy employment of people and ghost workers into an already over-bloated federal civil service will cease. This will put an end to religious issues. You can ban all you want to ban. Beer, nightclubs, mannequins, indecent dressing, female drivers in your state. Do all you want. But you will have to find the money to fund it.  What do I know sef? Shebu I am just an ordinary comedian?”

Alibaba said that the women supporting the senator are the reason why women get treated anyhow.

He said “Some women are the reasons women are treated anyhow. They will defend rape, molestation, marginalization, even be the people behind human trafficking and sex slave rackets. They will hate on their fellow women who are doing well. Cook up reason for such women’s success, just to make nonsense if their success. They will rather give a job they know a woman can do better than any man, just so the woman doesn’t become outstanding. They will cover up a Rape, because of the damage it will do to the family. Fear some women ooo”