Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma
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One of China’s biggest tech titans is stepping down.
Alibaba co-founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, 53, announced Friday that he’s retiring from the e-commerce giant, according to The New York Times. He said the reason he’s leaving is to pursue philanthropic endeavors focused on education.
On Saturday, The South China Morning Post reported that Ma would unveil a succession plan, and in a press release on Sunday, Alibaba confirmed that Ma would continue as chairman of the company for 12 months, until Sept. 10, 2019, before handing the chairmanship over to current CEO Daniel Zhang. This is in order to “ensure a smooth transition.”
Ma will also remain on Alibaba’s board of director’s until 2020.
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Ma co-founded Alibaba with 17 other people in 1999. He helped build it into a $420 billion company with more than 500 million Chinese customers who use the site to purchase everything from clothes to cement. Alibaba now also handles digital payments, online banking, cloud computing and digital media and entertainment.
Over the course of his tenure at Alibaba, Ma became China’s richest man, earning a net worth of more than $40 billion.
Included in the press release was a letter from Ma to Alibaba customers and shareholders, in which he wrote he, “put a lot of thought and preparation into this succession plan for ten years.
“As for myself, I still have lots of dreams to pursue. Those who know me know that I do not like to sit idle … 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?!”
Alibaba didn’t respond to a request for comment.
First published Sept. 8, 4:35 p.m. PT
Update, Sept. 9 at 8:33 a.m.: Adds mention of the South China Morning Post’s report.
Update, Sept. 9 at 10 p.m.: Adds details from Alibaba’s press release.