Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, has reappeared in public view in China for the first time in months. Alibaba then announced a huge reorganization of its business. Experts see the move as a sign that the Chinese government is easing its stance on 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 turnaround over the past tumultuous year, marking the billionaire’s second major public statement to employees in just a few months.
Last year, Alibaba underwent a historic overhaul and sweeping management changes in a bid to bring the Chinese tech giant back to growth.
“Over the past year, amid external and internal doubts and pressures, I have witnessed the birth of a strong and courageous Alibaba team,” Ma wrote in an internal memo to employees, a translated version of which was seen by CNBC.
Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares were up about 2% in premarket trading.
But he all but disappeared from public life in late 2020, after Chinese regulators pulled the plug on the massive stock market listing of the founder’s financial affiliate, Ant Group, triggering a crackdown on his empire.
Alibaba, whose business ranges from e-commerce to cloud computing, has seen billions of dollars wiped off its value in recent years, thanks to tougher regulation from Beijing and growing competition from rivals such as PDD and TiKTok owner ByteDance.
Last year Alibaba underwent the biggest overhaul in its history, splitting the company into six business groups in an effort to make each unit more agile.
This was accompanied by radical management changes. Alibaba Group’s longtime CEO Daniel Zhang unexpectedly left the post and then stepped down as CEO of the company’s cloud unit. Alibaba veterans Eddie Yongming Wu took over as CEO, while Joe Tsai took the reins as president in September.
Alibaba has since canceled initial public offerings of both its cloud division and Cainiao, its logistics unit.
But it is re-emerging at a time when Alibaba employees arguably need a morale boost. He praised both Tsai and Wu for their “future-oriented transformations.”
The Alibaba founder also said that Alibaba needs to think about what e-commerce will be like in three years, especially after the arrival of artificial intelligence.