Jonathan Lu

Jonathan Lu or Lu Zhaoxi (; born 1969) is an honorary partner of Alibaba Group. From 2013 to 2015, Lu served as Alibaba's CEO. He was succeeded by Daniel Zhang.

Biography

Early life and education When Lu was in highschool, he wanted to be an architect. However, according to his statements, he forgot to complete a page on his Gaokao Exam and ended up getting a degree in hotel management from Guangzhou University. After graduation, he worked as a receptionist at a Holiday Inn in Guangzhou.

Career According to his public statements, before being tapped to become CEO, Lu worked at Alibaba for 13 years, including stints with the business-to-business division (alibaba.com), Taobao.com, and Yun OS. At the end of his tenure, Alibaba was doing well, beating market expectations, but there were rumors that Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder, no longer trusted Lu's ability to run the company.

In 2015, Lu was the first senior manager to be named an "Honorary Partner", effectively retiring.