SHANGHAI, March 16 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Chief Executive Eddie Wu ​will head the newly ‌formed Alibaba Token Hub (ATH) Business Group, the firm ​said in a ​statement on Monday.

The new group ⁠will comprise existing ​Alibaba units Tongyi Laboratory, MaaS ​Business Line, Qwen Business Unit, Wukong Business Unit, and ​AI Innovation Business Unit.

US-listed Alibaba shares rose 2.5% in premarket trading.

Alibaba ​said its mission would be ‌to "create, ⁠deliver, and apply tokens," and it would focus on building AI-native work ​platforms ​for ⁠enterprises.

The move comes weeks after Alibaba's ​Qwen AI model division ​head, ⁠Lin Junyang, announced his departure, becoming the third ⁠senior ​Qwen executive to ​exit this year.