Alibaba’s Jack Ma rejects reports of early retirement, long term succession to be detailed

The Alibaba founder says reports of an exit as early as Monday are were “out of context” and factually wrong.

Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma, right, accompanies Jordan's Queen Rania on a tour this month of the Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang Province.

The founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Jack Ma, is set to announce long term plans for succession of the company he founded almost two decades ago, but has rejected weekend reports that he is about to step down from his role as executive chairman.

An announcement clarifying plans for his company expected as early as Monday.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, which he owns, published today, Ma strongly rejected a report from the New York Times which said he would be stepping down from the company on Monday as being “out of context” and factually wrong.

But, in a series of interviews recently Ma, who stepped down from his role as chief executive in 2013, has made it clear he wants to spend more time focusing on philanthropy and his passion for education.

“I sat down with our senior executives 10 years ago and ask what Alibaba would do without me,” he said in his interview with the Post.

“I am very proud of the fact that Alibaba now has the structure, corporate culture, governance and system for grooming talent that allows me to step away without causing disruption,” he said.

One of China’s richest businessmen, the 54-year-old Ma has an estimated person wealth of around $US40 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires List.

His company is based in his hometown, Hangzhou, south of Shanghai where he worked as a teacher first before setting up the business in his apartment with a group of friends.

Ma, whose life was changed when he was brought to Australia for a visit as a 21 year old student by a family from Newcastle, has made it clear he does not see himself as a traditional Asian businessman running the company he founded until his death or handing it over to his family to run.

The company, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, has a market capitalisation of some $US420 billion.

Alibaba is one of the worlds biggest online retailers. Picture: Bloomberg

While the company is now run on a day-to-day basis by Daniel Zhang, Ma has continued to drive its expansion into other fields including online payment system Alipay and other eCommerce platforms including Taobao and Tmall.

A charismatic figure with a passion for global trade as being a force of world co-operation, Ma is still seen globally has the company’s figure head, founder and source of inspiration.

He gave an inspiring speech to the University of Newcastle in June 2017 when he talked about how his life had been changed when he met Newcastle electrical engineer, Ken Morley, and his son David, who were travelling in China in 1980.

Ma became friends with the family who invited him to come to Australia in 1985 as a 21 year old student, a move which was almost unheard of for young Chinese at the time.

He credited Ken Morley with changing his life by pushing him to come to Australia and opening his eyes to developments in the West and inspiring him with a strong sense of social justice.

He launched a $26 million scholarship scheme last year in honour of Morley to encourage students from Newcastle University to visit China.

He hired Australian actor Nicole Kidman to help host the opening ceremony for Alibaba’s annual Singles Day online shopping bonanza which has become the largest shopping day in the world.

Ma hosted former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at his Hangzhou headquarters after the G20 meeting in 2016.

Ma is scheduled to be in Russia next week to finalise Alibaba’s venture with Mail.run, a business founded by Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov and Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

He also plans to visit Capetown where he has promised to set up a digital training centre to encourage entrepreneurship among young people.

Ma has made it clear that he has been inspired by US businessman Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett, who have both been strong advocates of giving away most of their fortune.

While Buffett still runs his own business, Berkshire Hathaway, Gates has set up a philanthropic foundation which has focused on global health issues.

“There are a lot of things I can learn from Bill Gates,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg television last week.

“I can never be as rich, but the one thing I can do is to retire earlier.

“I think, some day soon, I’ll go back to teaching.

“This is something I can do much better than being CEO of Alibaba.”

He told the Post yesterday that he wanted to spend more time on his passions for education, the environment and philanthropy.

But he denied he was planning to hand over his business at a time when the world trade environment has soured in the wake of the bitter trade war between the US and China.

“Anyone who knows me, knows I embrace the future. This is not about retiring, stepping away or backing off.

“This is a systematic plan.”

More details of his plan for Alibaba will be announced Monday.