Daraz founder steps down, Lazada’s James Dong to become acting CEO

Photo credit: Daraz

Bjarke Mikkelsen, founder and CEO of Pakistan-based Daraz, will be departing from the company. He has been the ecommerce firm’s CEO since 2015.

According to Mikkelsen’s LinkedIn post, Lazada group CEO James Z. Dong will take over as Daraz’s acting CEO. Alibaba is parent to both Lazada and Daraz, which the ecommerce titan acquired in 2018.

“When Alibaba invested in Daraz in 2018, our main challenges were a lack of reliable and cost-efficient logistics infrastructure, inefficient payment options, and scalability of marketplace operations,” wrote Mikkelsen. “All of these have been overcome and now a new era starts: The era of AI and global supply chain integration where all ecommerce companies will need to reinvent themselves.”

Mikkelsen also wrote that Dong will “work on a deeper integration” between Daraz and sister companies Lazada, Trendyol, AliExpress, and Alibaba.com. According to Dong’s own LinkedIn profile, he will lead Daraz while also staying as Lazada’s group CEO.

Like Lazada, Daraz was also launched by Rocket Internet. Founded in 2012, it began in Pakistan and has since expanded to Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The company also operated in Myanmar, though the market – which is in the middle of a prolonged civil war – is no longer listed on the Daraz website.

While Mikkelsen touted Daraz’s achievements in building physical infrastructure across South Asia, among other things, the company has faced its own share of issues. In February 2023, the startup slashed 11% of its total workforce, or about 330 employees.

Similarly, sister company Lazada conducted a round of layoffs earlier this month, with as much as 30% of staff said to be affected.

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