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.

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