- Jack Ma has some words of encouragement for Alibaba Group employees.
- In a roughly one-page memo, he discussed the company’s shortcomings, Reuters reported.
- The co-founder reportedly spent $50 million on Alibaba stock in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Alibaba employees received a rare note from co-founder Jack Ma, and the message was motivating.
Ma spent years out of the public eye, but resurfaced with a few appearances and low-key business moves in 2023. Her most recent venture into the spotlight is a lengthy message shared to employees on an internal Alibaba forum, reported Reuters.
He acknowledged Alibaba’s past mistakes, but the former CEO had kind words for new CEO Eddie Wu and Chairman Joe Tsai.
“This year, amid the many doubts and pressures on the company internally and externally, I have seen the birth of a strong and courageous Alibaba team,” Ma said in the memo seen by Reuters, which reported that he was the longest note Ma sent in five years. years.
It has been a difficult year for his company, which announced a major shake-up in March 2023, involving the division of the Alibaba Group into six new groups. The company named Wu CEO a few months later.
Although Ma apparently welcomed the restructuring in his one-page memo, he nonetheless encouraged Alibaba to correct past problems.
Since 2021, the company has faced scrutiny from the Chinese government, a $2.8 billion antitrust fine, and successful e-commerce competitors. Around the same time, Ma began to withdraw from the public eye.
“We must not only have the courage to admit and correct yesterday’s problems in a timely manner, but also undertake reforms for the future,” he said, according to Reuters.
Over the past three years, Alibaba has faced fierce competition in China’s e-commerce sector. Ma praised PDD Holdings – Temu’s parent company – in an earlier memo to employees a day before the company overtook Alibaba in market value.
Ma once planned to sell his shares in Alibaba, but canceled them when he started buying more in the fourth quarter of 2023. He spent about $50 million in Alibaba shares, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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