Jack Ma plans succession
• Alibaba contradicts newspaper report that billionaire chair will retire
Alibaba co-founder and chair Jack Ma will unveil a succession plan on Monday, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday, with a company spokesperson denying a New York Times report that he would retire that day.
The South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, said China’s most famous tech billionaire will “unveil a succession strategy” on Monday — his 54th birthday — but remain the company’s executive chair for the foreseeable future.
The New York Times ran an article on Friday, based on an interview with Ma, saying the former teacher turned billionaire plans to use his birthday to announce his retirement as chair of Alibaba. The paper quoted Ma as saying the decision is “the beginning of an era”.
But an Alibaba spokesperson told the Post that the New York Times’s story “was taken out of context and factually wrong”.
The Post wrote: “An Alibaba spokesman said Ma remains the company’s executive chairman and will provide transition plans over a significant period of time.” The paper added that the Monday succession strategy was part of a plan “for grooming a generation of younger executives to take over the reins” of the company.
A spokesperson for the New York Times said the newspaper stood by its story.
REVERED FIGURE
Ma was an English teacher before starting Alibaba in 1999. He built it into a multibilliondollar internet colossus, becoming one of the world’s richest men and a revered figure in his homeland. His own worth has soared along with that of the company, which has added cloud computing, films and epayments to its growing portfolio and was valued at $420.8bn when the stock market closed on Friday.
The New York Times’s report surprised many in the global business community because of Ma’s relative youth, especially in China where it is not unusual for tycoons to remain in place into their eighties.
Ma gave up the title of Alibaba CEO in 2013 but remains a pivotal figure in the company and its most recognisable face.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV released on Friday, Ma hinted at his retirement plans, saying that he wants to follow in the footsteps of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who is one of the world’s most prolific philanthropists. “There’s a lot of things I can learn from Bill Gates. I can never be as rich, but one thing I can do better is to retire earlier,” he said.
The South China Morning Post report ran quotes from Ma himself but did not address when exactly he would retire. Ma said he met with company executives 10 years ago to work out “what Alibaba would do without me”.
“Anybody who knows me knows I embrace the future. This is not about retiring, stepping away or backing off. This is a systematic plan,” the paper quoted Ma as saying.
The Post said Ma will be in Russia this week for Alibaba business meetings. He has an upcoming trip to SA. and is due to deliver a speech at the company’s investor day in midSeptember.