Tech Insider: Alibaba’s Historic Split Into Six Units, BYD’s Net Income Quintuples

SenseTime to roll out ChatGPT rival, China’s short-video app users top 1 billion

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The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. offices in Beijing. Photo: VCG

Welcome to Caixin’s Tech Insider, your twice-weekly wrap on the movers, shakers and deal-makers in China’s tech scene.

Alibaba to split up its business into six units in historic overhaul

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. unveiled a historic overhaul Tuesday under which the e-commerce giant will split its $220 billion business into six units with independent decision-making on financing and share sales.

The reorganization, the largest in the 24 years since Jack Ma established Alibaba, will transform the enterprise into a holding company, similar to Google’s restructuring into Alphabet. 

The reshuffle is not a financial separation but a complete overhaul of management authority and independence, a person close to Alibaba told Caixin.

Each new business unit will have its own chief executive and board of directors, and independence to raise capital and pursue public share sales, according to a company statement.

SenseTime to roll out ChatGPT rival in mid-2023

Chinese artificial intelligence leader SenseTime announced it will launch its own chatbot model in mid-2023, joining the global rush sparked by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.