Alibaba chairman Jack Ma to retire next year, succeeded by Daniel Zhang

Jack Ma says he’s doing the responsible thing by retiring next year as Alibaba chairman and handing the job to Daniel Zhang.

Jack Ma will step down as Alibaba chairman after a year’s transition period. Pic: AFP

Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma will retire from his role as executive chairman of Alibaba in September next year, the Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has announced.

The company said Mr Ma, who turns 54 today, will hand over the chairmanship to its current chief executive Daniel Zhang on September 10 next year.

Mr Zhang has been chief executive of the company, which has a stock market value of more than $US400 billion and a global staff of 86,000 employees, since Mr Ma stepped back from the day-to-day role of running the company in 2013.

Under the plan Mr Ma, who founded Alibaba in his apartment in Hangzhou south of Shanghai in 1999, will remain as a director of the company and a member of the Alibaba Partnership.

Ma said today’s announcement would allow for a “smooth and successful transition”.

In a letter to his staff today, he said: “Alibaba was never about Jack Ma, but Jack Ma will forever belong to Alibaba.”

He said the transition process showed that Alibaba had “stepped into the next level of corporate governance from a company that relies on individuals, to one built on

systems of organisational excellence and a culture of consistent talent and development”.

One of China’s richest men, Mr Ma’s wealth is estimated by Bloomberg to be around $US40 billion.

Mr Ma, who worked as an English teacher before starting his company, has often spoken of his desire to return to teaching and his admiration for Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his philanthropic efforts.

“Teachers always want their students to exceed them,” he said in his letter to staff today.

“So the responsible thing for me to do, for me and the company, is to let younger, more talented people take over in leadership roles so that they inherit our mission of making it easy to do business anywhere.

“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.”

Mr Ma visited Australia last year to open an Alibaba office in Melbourne and visit Newcastle University where he announced a $26 million scholarship scheme for students to travel to China.

The scholarship was a tribute to Newcastle electrical engineer, the late Ken Morley, who met Mr Ma when he and his family visited China in 1980 and invited him to visit Australia in 1985.

Mr Ma credits that visit to opening up his eyes to developments in the West and changing his thinking to the need to help China boost its connections with rest of the world.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, Alibaba reported annual revenues of almost $US40 billion in the financial year to March 2018.

Daniel Zhang in Alibaba’s Melbourne offices. Pic: Aaron Francis