Alibaba Denies DingTalk Founder Chen Hang's Return and Reassignment
Alibaba has denied reports that DingTalk founder Chen Hang has returned to the company and been placed under its Qianwen Office Business Unit. The denial follows speculation about his reappointment after he stepped down as DingTalk CEO in June 2026. The unit, which also oversees the Qianwen Office agent product launched in August 2026, reported over 30 million users within 30 days.
Alibaba has refuted rumors that Chen Hang, founder of DingTalk, has returned to the company and been assigned to its Qianwen Office Business Unit. The company stated that such reports are untrue. Earlier speculation claimed that Chen had rejoined Alibaba with his organizational reporting line moved to the Qianwen Office Business Unit, retaining his previous rank and compensation. Alibaba explicitly denied these assertions.
In June 2026, Alibaba announced a management reshuffle at DingTalk, with Chen Hang stepping down as CEO and being succeeded by Chen Yusen. Prior to that, in early June, a lengthy post by a former DingTalk employee titled "Inside DingTalk" sparked discussion. On June 10, the Alibaba Partnership Committee published an internal post titled "A Culture of Loyalty, Integrity, and Growth," which criticized DingTalk's management practices in stern terms. Following the management change announcement on June 11, Chen Yusen became the youngest business unit CEO at Alibaba.
In August 2026, Alibaba launched its office agent product "Qianwen Office," targeting enterprise-level workplace scenarios. It was the industry's first product to support desktop agents, cloud agents, and enterprise collaboration agents. Currently, both DingTalk and Qianwen Office fall under the Qianwen Office Business Unit. In September 2026, Alibaba disclosed that Qianwen Office had surpassed 30 million users within 30 days of its launch, with enterprise users accounting for more than half of the total.