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Alibaba founder Jack Ma has reappeared in public in China for the first time in several months. Alibaba then announced a major restructuring. Experts see the move as a sign that the Chinese government is softening its stance toward tech giants following a crackdown that began in late 2020.
Jiang Chong | Bloomberg | Getty Images
alibaba Founder Jack Ma on Wednesday praised the company’s restructuring and transformation over the past tumultuous year, marking the billionaire’s second major public statement to employees in recent months. did.
Alibaba underwent a historic overhaul and sweeping changes to its leadership team last year to put the Chinese tech giant back on a growth path.
“Over the past year, amidst external and internal doubts and pressures, I have witnessed the emergence of a strong and courageous Alibaba team,” Ma wrote in an internal memo to employees, translated from was confirmed by CNBC.
Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares rose nearly 2% in morning trading Wednesday.
Mr. Ma largely disappeared from public life in late 2020 after Chinese regulators blocked a major listing of his founder’s financial arm, Ant Group, triggering a crackdown on his empire.
Alibaba, whose businesses range from e-commerce to cloud computing, has seen billions of dollars in value wiped out over the past few years due to tighter Chinese government regulation and increased competition from rivals including: P.D.D. And ByteDance, the owner of TiKTok.
Last year, Alibaba underwent its biggest overhaul in its history, splitting the company into six business groups to make each division more agile.
This has resulted in significant changes in management. Daniel Zhang, the longtime CEO of Alibaba Group, abruptly resigned and later stepped down as CEO of the company’s cloud division. Alibaba veteran Eddie Yongming Wu became CEO, and Joe Tsai became chairman in September.
Alibaba later called off the initial public offerings of both its cloud and logistics arm Cainiao.
Mr. Ma is resurfacing at a time when Alibaba employees are likely in need of a morale boost. He praised Tsai and Wu’s “future-oriented transformation.”
The Alibaba founder also said that Alibaba needs to think about what e-commerce will look like in three years, especially since the advent of artificial intelligence.