Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma has announced he will be leaving company leadership to CEO Daniel Zhang in 12 months, or about 20 years after starting the firm. Zhang joined Alibaba 11 years ago and became its CEO in 2015, succeeding Jonathan Liu.
In a letter to shareholders, customers and Aliren, Ma explained that he is still young and wants to try his hand at new projects. As a former teacher, he said he will focus on education. Ma added that he has been working on the transition plan for a long while and is confident the company has developed the right solution to good governance and sustainability, namely continuous innovation, leadership succession, accountability and cultural continuity.
Ma will stay on with the board of directors until the company’s AGM in 2020. He will also continue to have a say in the company’s management, as part of the Alibaba Partnership, where is he is a lifetime partner and member of the partnership committee. The Alibaba Partnership is currently made up of 36 partners who are also members of senior management at Alibaba and affiliates. The Partnership has the right to nominate a majority of the directors to the board of the company.
Ma created the Jack Ma Foundation in 2014, with the aim of improving education in rural China. His Weibo social media handle is “spokesman for village teachers — Jack Ma,” according to the New York Times, which added that within Alibaba, he is known and referred to as “Teacher Ma.”
In a recent interview with Bloomberg TV, the executive chairman signaled he was thinking about focusing more on philanthropy. He cited the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates as an example. Ma said he could never be as rich as Mr. Gates, but that he could retire earlier. Gates stepped down as Microsoft’s chairman in 2014, at the age of 58.
