Taobao.com has confirmed that its vice president Huang Ruo, who was in charge of the B2C business of the company, will resign at the end of September 2008.
Huang will be the first high-level manager to leave the company since the merge of Taobao.com and Alimama.com. On September 4, 2008, Alibaba Group announced plans to merge Taobao.com and Alimama.com, its auction and advertising subsidiaries, to achieve its greater Taobao strategy. Former president of Taobao.com Lu Zhaoxi is to be president of the new Taobao company and the former general manager of Alimama.com Wu Yongming would be vice president of the new company.
According to a report in Beijing Business Today, after the merger, the new company will make a series of adjustments and the first steps are to be downsizing and restructuring, including cutting 300 jobs and reassigning 200 staff. However, Lu Weixing, a spokesperson for Taobao.com, said this was just a rumor.
Huang said because, he would resign from Taobao.com at the end of September 2008 for personal reasons, but he would still remain in the retail industry.
Huang joined Taobao.com in June 2007 after having worked in many large retail companies, including Lotus, Metro, and Beijing Hualian.