The founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, bade farewell to Alibaba next year. (Image via Business Today)

Jack Ma parts way with Alibaba: the end of 20 years of journey

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Social & Life
People
Sep 10, 2019
2090
On Monday (8/9), the founder and executive chairman of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Ma Yun, generally known as Jack Ma, said that from he would step down from his position as the chairman of the board on Tuesday (10/9), ending the 20 years of journey with the company he raised since its establishment in 1999.

Daniel Zhang took the mantle as the chairman of the board. However, for a smoother transition, Jack Ma is not going to step down that fast. Written in the company’s official statement, Ma will stay as executive chairman for the next 12 months until Alibaba’s 2020 annual shareholders meeting.

JOURNEY OF ALIBABA IN A NUTSHELL

For Ma, raising Alibaba is never an easy job. Starting in 1999 in Hangzhou, Alibaba had to go through hell to be as huge as it is now. Once a small company, Ma – as the leader of 18 founders of Alibaba - remembered that he had to work day and night.

In 2000, the chance came knocking at Alibaba’s door. The CEO of Softbank, Masayoshi Son, invested US$20 million in Alibaba, a 29.5% stake. Ma retold the story as he and Son did share the same vision and decided to walk hand-in-hand.

“We did not even talk about business. We shared the same vision, and it was a quick decision,” said Ma.

More and more investors came to invest in Alibaba, seeing it as a worthy and promising company. Yahoo! rolled out US$1 billion into Alibaba, owning 40% of Alibaba's stake. In return, Alibaba took hold of Yahoo!’s business in China. In 2012, Alibaba bought back the 40% stake owned by Yahoo! for US$7.6 billion, profiting Yahoo! as much as US$6.6 billion.

In 2014, Alibaba decided to go public on the New York Stock Exchange, raising US$25 billion in its IPO. It was considered to be the biggest IPO in history.

However, that does not mean that Alibaba is trouble-free. In 2011, a problem emerged in what seemed to be a misunderstanding between Alibaba and Yahoo!. Alibaba sold Alipay, its online payment platform, to a group owned by Ma. It was due to the regulation of the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, that every third-party or online payment platform is required to obtain a license.

Yahoo!, as the biggest stakeholder of Alibaba, did not know about the sale to which Alibaba denied. The problem was resolved by an agreement between Alibaba, Yahoo!, and Softbank that Alibaba would receive at least US$2 million but no more than US$6 million should Alipay decide to go public, and Alipay was required to pay licensing fee and to stay loyal to Taobao.

UNVEILING OF THE RESIGNATION PLAN AND MA’S PRINCIPLE

When he came to Bali in 2018 to attend IMF-WB Annual Meeting, Jack Ma told his sole principle in establishing Alibaba. Arriving at the annual meeting, Ma told that he did not come as the owner of Alibaba, hence stating his plan to step down from his position.

“I did not come here as a businessman or the owner of Alibaba. I came here as an advisor, fulfilling my duty,” said Ma at the annual meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali (13/10/2018).

Ma furthermore stated that when he began with 30 employees, he never made empty promises that joining him would make them rich. Instead, Ma developed their potential to the fullest.

“I never said my employees are the best. But, I trained them to be. And, I never promised that joining Alibaba would make you rich. I always said to them ‘You will make yourselves rich.’,” added Ma.

When he was asked about his priority in Alibaba, Ma said that consumer is always on top. But, Ma asserted that his employees come second and the trust from the two sides is the third. In other words, no one is left behind. Ma did realize that in raising an e-commerce company, firm principle and belief are the foundation.

“As a businessman, we need to possess a firm belief. With this firm belief, we are not afraid in the face of trouble. Speaking about priority, in Alibaba, the consumer is no. 1, and the employee is no. 2. But, the trust from them both is no. 3,” said Ma.

DANIEL ZHANG’S JOURNEY

When we hear the name “Daniel Zhang”, we are often overshadowed by Jack Ma. On the contrary, Zhang is not a new player in Alibaba’s business. Joining Alibaba in 2007, Zhang was the CFO for Taobao, the Chinese version of E-Bay by Alibaba which focuses on the auction of electronic goods. In 2008, Zhang went to be Taobao’s COO.

The breakthrough came for Zhang in 2011 when he was appointed as the President of Taobao Mall (TMall), a business-to-consumer (B2C) subsidiary company by Alibaba.

The biggest breakthrough he once pioneered was the Singles’ Day in 2009. Held on 11 November, it targets single people (not committed to marriage yet). In 2009, TMall recorded US$7.8 million sales which grew to a staggering US$30.8 billion in 2018! Zhang himself could not believe that the Single’s Day event would be this huge.

This year, the Single’s Day marked its 10th anniversary, and the event continued until this day to be the biggest shopping event in the world.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/10/jack-ma-steps-down-as-alibaba-baba-chairman-history-of-the-company.html

Business , E-Commerce , Asia , China , Alibaba , Jack-Ma , Figure