Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce and digital payments giant will get a new leader by September next year. Founder and chairman of the company, Jack Ma (54) announced that Daniel Zhang (46) will lead the company from next year. Currently Zhang holds the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. Zhang has been responsible for aggressive expansion of e-commerce giant and its stock market listing. A finance graduate from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and a certified accountant, Zhang is known as ‘financial wizard’ by company insiders. The appointment of Zhang as chairman and CEO of the Company, a position Ma himself held prior to 2013, goes against the normal philosophy of Jack Ma. As he had repeatedly said that Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) do not make great executives due to their short term vision. So, perhaps Jack Ma betting on Zhang is an exception. “Intelligent people need a fool to lead them. When the team’s all a bunch of scientists, it is best to have a peasant lead the way. His way of thinking is different. It’s easier to win if you have people seeing things from different perspectives”, said Jack Ma in a letter to employees, customers and investors on his plans to retire.
Zhang is known to be strong on financial side of execution rather than technological side. Under his stewardship, Alibaba became most valued company in Asia with market capitalization of 420 billion dollars. He pioneered the annual ‘Single’s day’ bonanza in which the company made record sales and ‘New Retail’ operations, under which Alibaba took over brick and mortar stores and transformed them. The appointment of Zhang is not a hurried decision, Ma planned for it a decade back. “I have put a lot of thought and preparation into this succession plan for ten years”, wrote Ma in the letter to customers and shareholders. Zhang joined the company in 2007 and appointed as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2013. Later, Ma handed over the CEO position to him. On the leadership ability of Zhang, Ma said, “He had observed Zhang demonstrate continued commitment to the company and prove his abilities by managing 13 consecutive quarters of consistent and sustainable growth.” By retiring at an early age, Jack Ma set a precedent for Asian corporate leaders who are known to stick to their company till a very old age. Ma is 54 now and next year during his retirement he will be 55. “No one can shoulder the responsibilities of a chairman and CEO forever and no company can rely solely on its founders”, wrote Ma, outlining the thought process behind his early retirement.
Jack Ma, an English teacher started Alibaba in 1999 with 17 other people with an initial investment of 60,000 US dollars. He was introduced to internet in 1994 while on a visit to Unite States with friends. At that time Internet was ‘taboo’ in China and very few companies wanted to get involved with it because majority of coding and designing was dependent on the knowledge of English. Ma as English teacher took the chance and succeeded. The rise of Ma epitomize rise of Chinese economy in 21st century. So, in the first decade it was ‘peaceful rise of China’ and ‘peaceful rise of Alibaba’. In the second decade Alibaba has been more aggressive, it expanded to foreign countries, got itself listed at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), acquired rivals and smaller firms, and invested in tech companies across the world. Jack Ma relied more on ancient Chinese wisdom in his management approach while Zhang is more corporate culture driven.
The teacher in Jack Ma compelled him to take more of a philosophical approach. “The teacher in me feels extremely proud of our team, our leadership and our unique mission-driven culture, as well as the fact that we continue to develop exceptional business leaders and professional talent like Daniel Zhang,” Ma wrote in his retirement letter. Ma will be pursuing his first love- education after retirement from the company. “I also want to return to education, which excites me with so much blessing because this is what I love to do. The world is big, and I am still young, so I want to try new things — because what if new dreams can be realized?!”, said Ma on his plans after retirement. He changed the whole landscape of e-commerce and digital payments in China and to a large extent in the world, now it will be interesting to see what changes ‘the great visionary’ will bring in education with his 40 billion dollar fortune.