Daniel Zhang, 47, is a Shanghai native.
Zhang was born and raised in Shanghai, where his father worked as an accountant, Bloomberg reported. Zhang earned a bachelors degree in finance from the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, according to his biography on Alibaba's website. Zhang is also a certified accountant, according to Fortune.
Early in his career, Zhang held positions at game developer Shanda Interactive Limited and PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to his biography on Alibaba's website.
Zhang first joined Alibaba after meeting cofounder and Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai.
Ma promoted Zhang to CEO in May 2015.
Before that, Zhang served as Alibaba's chief operating officer, according to his biography on Alibaba's website.
Ma originally appointed Jonathan Lu CEO after he himself vacated the position, but later decided that Alibaba would best be run by someone younger, Fortune reported.
Ma announced that Zhang would also succeed him as chairman in a letter published in September 2018.
"Teachers always want their students to exceed them," Ma wrote, according to a copy of the letter published by Quartz. "So the responsible thing to do for me and the company to do is to let younger, more talented people take over in leadership roles so that they inherit our mission 'to make it easy to do business anywhere.'"
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdZhang will likely have a different leadership style than Ma, who Business Insider's Sinead Baker previously described as "the most flamboyant tech founder on the planet."
Zhang keeps such a low profile that the parents of an Alibaba employee once saw him in Alibaba's Hangzhou headquarters and mistook him for a janitor, Bloomberg reported.
Zhang is not well-known in China like Ma is. Ma is so popular that his speaking engagements often draw large crowds, Business Insider previously reported.
Bloomberg described Zhang as "slight and soft-spoken, often proceeding haltingly in English during calls with investors."
Zhang knows he has big shoes to fill.
"We believe that the best way to give thanks to yesterday is to create the most beautiful future together," Zhang said during his speech at Ma's retirement party.
Zhang could face challenges amid the trade war between the US and China and a slowdown in the Chinese e-commerce industry.
Zhang is also looking towards Alibaba's next big business.
"Every business has a life cycle," Zhang told Bloomberg. "If we don't kill our existing business, someone else will. So I'd rather see our own new businesses kill our existing business."
One new business Zhang supports is grocery and restaurant delivery service Freshippo, according to Bloomberg. Zhang worked on the project with a small team in a garage in Shanghai for months.
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdZhang is already a workaholic, according to Bloomberg.
A normal weekday for Zhang "amounts pretty much to work, eat, and sleep," according to Bloomberg.
Alibaba has a reputation for requiring demanding hours and travel schedules from its employees, something employees poked fun at during their performances at Ma's retirement party September 10.
Zhang has already created some big hits. He was a part of the team that created Alibaba's hugely successful Single's Day.
Zhang personally lobbied the online marketplaces' merchants to participate in the first Singles' Day in 2009, Bloomberg reported.
The event generated $25 billion in sales in 2018 and is bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, Business Insider previously reported. Occurring every November 11, Singles Day is the world's largest day on online shopping.