Alibaba Pictures Expands Powers of Fan Luyuan
Alibaba Pictures has expanded the powers of Fan Luyuan, who was appointed CEO two months ago. He is the company’s third leader in 15 months, and replaces Yu Yongfu, who was appointed last December.
Fan appears to have been granted all of the multiple powers that Yu accumulated. As well as the CEO title, he is set as executive director and chairman of the executive committee, chairman of the board, chairman of the nomination committee and member of the remuneration committee.
“In view of the group’s continuous business growth in line with its clear strategic direction, and the fact that Fan has demonstrated outstanding management and leadership capabilities along with his thorough understanding of the group’s strategy of building new infrastructure for the domestic movie industry since his appointment as the CEO, Yu decided to resign as chairman of the board in succession by Fan who, as chairman of the board and the CEO concurrently, will lead the group in accelerating its development and creating more value for the shareholders of the group,” Alibaba Pictures said in a statement.
Fan’s accumulation of so many job titles is in breach of Hong Kong Stock Exchange rules. But the company says it believes it has enough board diversity anyway.
Alibaba Pictures is the film-specific division within China’s Alibaba e-commerce giant. It has share listings in Hong Kong and Singapore that are separate from New York-listed Alibaba.
The company started out with a mission to invest in and produce films, and struck expensive deals with Wong Kar-wai and Peter Chan Ho-sun. It also bought a stake of undisclosed value in Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners. However, in the last year, under the leadership of Yu, it has been reoriented to become much more of a technology and service platform for the domestic Chinese film industry. It includes the massive Tao Piao Piao online ticketing platform, but excludes Alibaba’s video streaming business Youku Tudou, which is operated under the parent company’s Alibaba Digital Entertainment umbrella.
Respected producer Zhang Qiang, who joined from state-controlled China Film Corp., led the company soon after Alibaba acquired ChinaVision in 2014, until he resigned in June 2016.
Fan is one of the architects of cashless payment system Alipay and the Yu’e Bao fintech giant. He joined Alibaba Pictures in January 2016.
Related stories
Alibaba Pictures Adds Fan Luyuan as CEO
Zhang Qiang Quits Alibaba Pictures Board
Alibaba Pictures Boss Sets Out Technology First Vision of Film Industry
Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!
