Alibaba Pictures has restructured its management team with the appointment of Zhang Wei as president and Deng Kangming as COO.

Zhang, who is currently Alibaba Group senior vice president, will be responsible for the company’s overseas business, including investments and mergers and acquisitions. She may be based out of the company’s LA office, although this has yet to be confirmed.

Deng will oversee e-commerce business and various administrative functions, including legal, finance, human resources, marketing and public relations. Both appointees will report to Alibaba Pictures CEO Zhang Qiang.

In a statement, Alibaba Pictures said it will establish four key strategic areas of focus: content development and production; marketing and publishing of film and TV programmes; development of an e-commerce entertainment platform; and development of an overseas entertainment business.

Zhang Qiang, CEO of Alibaba Pictures, said: “Technological changes in the film industry will have a great impact on the development of Alibaba Pictures and it will transform the industry’s value proposition and the role of traditional film companies.

“The company will continue to be at the forefront of this change and adopt innovative technologies and content production and distribution techniques in order to bring high-quality premium content to users.

In April, Alibaba Pictures announced it would acquire cinema-ticketing company, Guangdong Yueke Software Engineering, and also reached an agreement with Paramount Pictures to invest in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

Before joining Alibaba Group in 2008, Zhang held senior management posts at companies including General Electric Company, Bain & Company, NBC Universal and News Corporation.

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