| Jonathan Lu | |
| Native Name: | 陆兆禧 |
| Birth Place: | Guangzhou |
| Occupation: | Businessperson |
| Predecessor: | Jack Ma |
| Successor: | Daniel Zhang |
| Office: | CEO of Alibaba Group |
| Term Start: | March 11, 2013 |
| Term End: | May 10, 2015 |
Jonathan Lu or Lu Zhaoxi (; born 1969) is an honorary partner of Alibaba Group.[1] From 2013 to 2015, Lu served as Alibaba's CEO.[2] He was succeeded by Daniel Zhang.[3]
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.[4]
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.
In 2013, Jack Ma selected Lu as his successor as CEO. During his tenure as CEO, Lu oversaw Alibaba's $21.8 billion IPO.[5] 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.[6]
In 2015, Lu was the first senior manager to be named an "Honorary Partner", effectively retiring., Lu has a net worth of 1.1 billion US dollars. [7]