The founder of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, who helped launch China's online retail boom, resigned on Tuesday as president of the world's largest e-commerce company at a time when its rapidly changing industry faces uncertainty in between of a tariff war between the United States and China.
Ma, one of the richest and best-known businessmen in China, resigned from his 55th birthday job as part of a succession announced a year ago. He will remain a member of Alibaba Partnership, a group of 36 members entitled to nominate the majority of the company's board of directors.
Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 to connect Chinese exporters with American retailers.
The company has changed its focus to serve China's growing consumer market and has expanded to online banking, entertainment and cloud computing. National companies accounted for 66 percent of their revenues of $ 16.7 billion in the quarter ending in June.
Chinese retail trade faces uncertainty amid a tariff war that has raised the cost of US imports.
Online sales growth slowed to 17.8pc in the first half of 2019 amid the slowdown in Chinese economic growth, below the annual 23.9pc rate of 2018.
Alibaba says its revenue increased 42{7be40b84a6a43fc4fae13304fce9a2695859798abfc41afd127b9f8b21c5f9c5} during the previous year in the quarter ending in June to $ 16,700 million and earnings increased 145{7be40b84a6a43fc4fae13304fce9a2695859798abfc41afd127b9f8b21c5f9c5} to $ 3,100 million. Still, that was slightly lower than the 51pc revenue growth of the full year of 2018.
The total amount of goods sold on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms increased 25{7be40b84a6a43fc4fae13304fce9a2695859798abfc41afd127b9f8b21c5f9c5} last year to $ 853 billion. In comparison, the largest e-commerce company in the USA. UU., Amazon.com Inc., reported total sales of $ 277 billion.
Alibaba Vice President Joe Tsai told reporters in May that the company is "on the right side" of the problems in trade talks between the United States and China. Tsai said Alibaba will benefit from Beijing's promise to increase imports and a growing consumer market.
Alibaba is one of a group of companies that includes Tencent Holding Ltd, a gaming and social media giant, the search engine Baidu.com Inc and the e-commerce rival JD.com that have revolutionized shopping, entertainment and entertainment. Consumer services in China.
Alibaba was founded at a time when few Chinese were online. As Internet use expanded, the company expanded to consumer-focused services and retail. Few Chinese used credit cards, so Alibaba created the Alipay online payment system.
Ma, known in Chinese as Ma Yun, appears regularly on television.
At an annual festival for Alibaba employees in Hanzhou, he has sung pop songs with costumes that include blonde wigs and leather jackets. He mocks his own appearance, saying that his large head and angular features make him look like the alien in the director Steven Spielberg's movie "E.T. The Extraterrestrial."
The company's initial $ 25 billion public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014 was the largest to date of a Chinese company.
The Hurun Report, which follows China's wealth, estimates Ma's fortune at $ 38 billion.
In 2015, Ma bought the South China Morning Post, The largest English newspaper in Hong Kong.
Ma's successor as president is CEO Daniel Zhang, former accountant and 12-year veteran of Alibaba. He was previously president of his consumer-focused business unit Tmall.com.
Alibaba's e-commerce business encompasses platforms that include Alibaba.com from business to business, linking foreign buyers with Chinese suppliers of products from furniture to medical technology, and Tmall, with online stores for popular brands.
Alipay became an independent financial company, Ant Financial, in 2014. Alibaba also established its own film studio and invested in logistics and delivery services.
Ma faced controversy when he revealed in 2011 that Alibaba transferred control over Alipay to a company it controlled without immediately informing shareholders, including Yahoo Inc. and Japan Softback.
Alibaba said the measure should comply with Chinese regulations, but some financial analysts said the company was paid very little for a valuable asset.
The dispute was subsequently resolved by Alibaba, Yahoo and Softbank.
Corporate governance specialists have questioned the Alibaba Partnership, which gives Ma and a group of executives more control over the company than the shareholders.
Ma said that guarantees that Alibaba focuses on long-term development rather than responding to financial market pressure.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1504560/alibabas-ma-steps-down-as-industry-faces-uncertainty