The headquarters of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo by Niu Jing/For China Daily]

Chinese tech heavyweight Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced on Tuesday it will split its business into six main units, the biggest restructuring in the company's 24 year history.

Each of the units will be managed by its own chief executive and board of directors and have the flexibility to raise outside capital and seek its own initial public offering, said Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, in an internal letter to employees.

The six units will cover cloud intelligence, Taobao Tmall commerce, local services, Cainiao smart logistics, global digital commerce and digital media and entertainment.

Zhang will continue to serve as chairman and CEO of Alibaba, which will follow a holding company management model. Zhang will also be the CEO of the cloud intelligence unit.

The fundamental purpose of this reform is to make the organization more agile, Zhang said in the letter, adding each unit should actively tackle rapid changes in the market.

The restructuring announcement comes one day after Alibaba founder Jack Ma was spotted at a primary school in Hangzhou, marking his first public appearance in the Chinese mainland in more than a year.