Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, has re-emerged into the Chinese public eye for the first time in months. Alibaba then announced a vast reorganization of its activities. Experts see the move as a signal that the Chinese government is softening its stance toward tech giants after a crackdown that began in late 2020.
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Ali Baba Founder Jack Ma on Wednesday praised the company’s reorganization and change over the past tumultuous year, marking the billionaire’s second major public statement to employees in just a few months.
Over the past year, Alibaba has undergone a historic overhaul and sweeping leadership changes in an effort to return the Chinese tech giant to growth.
“Over the past year, amid doubts and external and internal pressures, I have witnessed the birth of a strong and courageous Alibaba team,” Ma wrote in an internal memo to employees, a version of which translated was seen by CNBC.
Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares were up nearly 2% Wednesday morning.
Ma virtually disappeared from public life in late 2020, after Chinese regulators halted the massive listing of the founder’s financial subsidiary, Ant Group, triggering a crackdown on his empire.
Alibaba, whose business spans from e-commerce to cloud computing, has seen its value disappear by billions of dollars in recent years, thanks to tougher regulation from Beijing and growing competition from rivals like PDD and ByteDance, owner of TiKTok.
Last year, Alibaba underwent the biggest overhaul in its history, which split the company into six business groups with the aim of making each unit more agile.
This was accompanied by radical changes in management. Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group’s longtime CEO, unexpectedly resigned and then resigned as CEO of the company’s cloud unit. Alibaba veteran Eddie Yongming Wu took over as CEO, while Joe Tsai took the reins as president in September.
Alibaba has since abandoned IPOs for its cloud division and Cainiao, its logistics unit.
Ma reappears at a time when Alibaba employees probably need a moral boost. He praised Tsai and Wu for their “forward-looking transformations.”
The Alibaba founder also said that Alibaba needs to think about what e-commerce will look like in three years, especially since the advent of artificial intelligence.
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