Alibaba food delivery head steps down in latest exec reshuffle

SHANGHAI, March 1 (Reuters) - Longtime Alibaba executive Yu Yongfu will step down as CEO of the firm's local services division at the end of March, according to a company spokesperson.

His role, which includes leading food delivery business Ele.me and mapping and navigation service Amap, will be divided between several executives.

Wu Zeming will become chairman of Ele.me while Han Liu will take the reins as chief executive.

Liu Zhenfei and Guo Ning will become chairman and CEO, respectively, of Amap, the spokesperson said.

The management reshuffle was announced by Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu in an internal memo, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Ele.me is one of China's largest food delivery players, though has long been overshadowed by market leader Meituan .

Meituan shares rose 10% following news of the reshuffle on Friday.

This is the latest in a series of management reshuffles at Alibaba. Previous group Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang made way for Wu, who went on to take the helm of Alibaba's Cloud division and, last December, its domestic e-commerce arm.

(Reporting by Casey Hall; editing by Jason Neely)