Alibaba Group (9988.HK) said on Wednesday its chief executive would directly oversee its domestic e-commerce arm, with the unit's previous head turning her focus to managing non-core assets as the group combats slower earnings growth.

Group CEO Eddie Wu will take over as chief executive of domestic e-commerce arm Taobao and Tmall Group effective immediately, the company said, boosting his direct control over the group's core businesses.

Wu, who has been Group CEO since September, also took over from previous head Daniel Zhang as the company's cloud business CEO that month. The latest appointment means Wu now leads the overall group as well as its two most important business divisions - cloud and domestic e-commerce.

The company's domestic e-commerce platforms Tmall and Taobao remain China's largest, but have been losing market share in recent years to fast-rising competitors like PDD Holdings' (PDD.O) Pinduoduo.

Dai will shift roles to assist in the establishment of a new asset management company "as part of ongoing efforts to improve return on capital," according to an internal company letter seen by Reuters and signed by Joseph Tsai, who took over as group chairman from Zhang in September.

reuters.com - Alibaba group CEO takes over chief domestic e commerce business