Alibaba begins new era as founder departs
Jack Ma has officially retired from Alibaba on Tuesday. He celebrated his retirement with a big bash at an Olympic-sized stadium in the company’s hometown of Hangzhou.
Ma is stepping away from Alibaba at a relatively young age, writes CNN. He has said in the past that he wants to retire earlier than Bill Gates, who stepped down as chairman of Microsoft at the age of 58 in 2014.
Some people have linked the timing of Ma’s decision to the Chinese government’s increasing restrictions on internet companies. But Ma denied that Beijing was forcing him out when he spoke at the Alibaba event last September.
“I got rumors from outside China, saying: ‘It’s because the government wants to push you down.’ Nobody can [push you out], if you don’t want to leave, right? Because I know it’s nothing about the politics or government,” Ma said.
Still, some observers say that Ma had flown a bit too close to the sun, and leaving Alibaba is partly about self-preservation. The charitable projects Ma has signaled he is interested in pursuing in retirement have the added benefit of being unlikely to cause waves with China’s leadership.
Daniel Zhang, currently Alibaba’s chief executive, will replace him as executive chairman, reports BBC.
Inside Alibaba Mr Zhang is reportedly known as Xiaoyaozi, the name of a character in a Chinese martial arts novel. It means the “unfettered one”- someone who stays out of battles but is great at training others.
More Amazon news
Meet Andy Jassy, the next CEO of Amazon
Who is Andy Jassy, Jeff Bezos’ successor? The decision to name Andy Jassy as the new Amazon CEO completes the shift from a retailer to a tech company in the key areas, including cloud and artificial intelligence Jeff Bezos has announced he will be stepping down as the...
Amazon without Bezos
Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO and transition to a new position at the company as executive chair of the Amazon board in Q3 2021 Andy Jassy, who currently serves as CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will replace Bezos...
New Year in China 2021: lockdown 2.0
China's COVID-19 case spike forces another harsh lockdown China is enforcing strict new measures, trying to contain the spread of COVID-19. The new initiatives are aimed to limit and discourage movement during the traditional migration period. The following regions...