Jack Ma had almost vanished from the public eye in October 2020 after he made some remarks critical of the Chinese regulatory authorities. This not only halted the much anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of Ma’s fintech company Ant Group but also brought the scrutiny of the regulators onto China’s tech sector making him go almost underground.
Jack Ma withdrew from public life on a large scale after Alibaba was given a fine of $2.8 billion for anti-monopoly violations.
However, almost four years later, Ma has resurfaced to give some encouraging words to his company and employees, in light of major changes coming to the group.
What Did Jack Ma Say?
During a very tumultuous time for the Alibaba Group, Jack Ma has come out of the shadows, penning down a post almost a page long, praising CEO Eddie Wu and chairman Joe Tsai for their leadership.
The memo posted on the company’s intranet also talked about how the decision to split the company into six divisions streamlined decision-making and made the company more customer-focused.
Ma claimed that Tsai and Wu have shown “admirable courage and wisdom” and further added “We made countless mistakes in the past 25 years, and we will [continue to] make mistakes in the next 77 years. Facing problems is not to deny the past, but to find the way responsibly to the future.”
Jack Ma also wrote, “We must not only have the courage to admit and correct yesterday’s problems in a timely manner but also make reforms for the future.”
In his post, he also commented that “Our innovation has never been to surpass our opponents, but to catch up to the future” and how “Innovation is not about following the trend, it’s a test of your true ability to survive.”
Read More: Why Are Chinese Youth Throwing ‘Resignation Parties’ And Dropping Out Of The ‘Rat Race’?
This was the longest post Jack Ma has made in almost five years on the company’s intranet as per reports.
Jacob Cooke, CEO of e-commerce consultancy WPIC Marketing + Technologies also commented on Ma’s post stating that it was focused on “restoring internal and external confidence in Alibaba’s leadership” especially in light of “the chorus of negative voices seems to have risen in 2024.”
Alibaba shares had dropped by 27% in the last 12 months and its market value stands at $178 billion, which it even being overtaken by rival PDD Holdings (PDD.O) for a brief time last year in December, due to tougher regulation rules and rising competition.
Alibaba is also attempting the biggest overhaul in its 25-year-long history, with major management changes, splitting the company into 6 business groups, and CEO Daniel Zhang quitting from both Alibaba Group and its cloud unit all of a sudden.
The IPO of its cloud division and Cainiao, its logistics unit has also been canceled and Eddie Yongming Wu and Joe Tsai have taken over the roles of CEO and chairman respectively.
Soon after the memo came out, reports revealed that the company’s shares went up almost 5% in Hong Kong while the U.S.-listed shares saw an increase by 2% in pre-market trade.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: CNBC, Reuters, The Economic Times
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