issued Thursday, June 11, 2026 · 3:50 p.m.
[HANGZHOU, China] Alibaba Group Holding has replaced the person in charge of its Dingtalk app, making a high-profile leadership change after internal debate erupted over the company’s broader AI strategy over the productivity platform’s place.
Dingtalk CEO and co-developer Chen Hang will step down and be replaced by engineer Chen Yusen, according to people familiar with the matter. Officials said they were informed of the decision in an internal memo. The company’s shares fell as much as 5.9% on the Hong Kong market on Thursday (June 11).
Dingtalk, known as Dingding in Chinese, plays a key role in Alibaba’s efforts to pivot to AI in the post-ChatGPT era. The Slack-style work app has introduced a number of AI features under Chen, but the push has been criticized for being unfocused, people said.
The criticism came after a recently retired employee posted about burnout on a company forum, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The post prompted a response from Alibaba’s top leadership this week, which issued an unusual rebuke of the division’s management style in a separate internal memo, the people said.
Local media, including 36Kr, first reported Chen’s departure. Representatives for Alibaba did not respond to requests for comment.
Chen led the founding of Dingtalk in 2014, helping Alibaba enter enterprise software and fend off efforts from Tencent Holdings. He later left Alibaba, but rejoined the company last year to reinvent the app for the AI era. bloomberg
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