Alibaba Weighs Ceding Control of Some Businesses After Major Overhaul

(Bloomberg) — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will consider gradually giving up control of some of its main businesses, after completing a major overhaul to create six new companies that may debut on public markets.

China’s online commerce leader unveiled plans this week to split its $250 billion empire six ways, a historic restructuring that frees up divisions from e-commerce and media to the cloud to operate more autonomously and seek initial public offerings. Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang hosted a conference call on Thursday to explain the changes, but declined to specify a timeline for any IPOs except to say they will evaluate market conditions.