Alibaba shares jump after founder Jack Ma reemerges with praise of Chinese giant’s ‘transformations’

Jack
Ma,
founder
of
Alibaba,
reappeared
in
the
public
view
in
China
for
the
first
time
in
months.
Alibaba
then
announced
a
huge
reorganization
of
its
business.
Experts
see
the
move
as
a
signal
that
the
Chinese
government
is
softening
its
stance
toward
tech
giants
after
a
crackdown
that
began
in
late
2020.

Jean
Chung
|
Bloomberg
|
Getty
Images

Alibaba
founder
Jack
Ma
on
Wednesday
praised
the
company’s
reorganization
and
change
over
its
tumultuous
past
year,
marking
the
billionaire’s
second
major
public
statement
to
employees
in
just
a
few
months.

In
the
past
year,
Alibaba
underwent
a
historic
overhaul
and
sweeping
management
changes
in
a
bid
to
return
the
Chinese
technology
giant
to
growth.

“Over the
past
year,
amid
external
and
internal
doubt
and
pressures,
I
have
witnessed
the
birth
of
a
strong
and
courageous
Alibaba
team,”
Ma
wrote
in
an
internal
memo
to
employees,
a
translated
version
of
which
was
seen
by
CNBC.

Alibaba’s
U.S.-listed
shares
were
nearly
2%
higher
in
morning
trading
Wednesday.

Ma
all
but
disappeared
from
public
life
at
the
end
of
2020,
after
Chinese
regulators

pulled
the
plug
on
the
massive
listing
of
the
founder’s
financial
affiliate
Ant
Group,
sparking
a
crackdown
on
his
empire.

Alibaba,
whose
business
spans
everything
from
e-commerce
to
cloud
computing,
has
seen

billions
of
dollars
wiped
off
of
its
value
in
the
past
few
years,
thanks
to
tougher
regulation
from
Beijing
and
rising
competition
from
rivals
like

PDD
and
TiKTok
owner
ByteDance.

Last
year,
Alibaba
underwent
its

biggest
overhaul
in
its
history,
which
split
the
company
into
six
business
groups
in
a
bid
to
make
each
unit
more
agile.

This
was
accompanied
by
sweeping
management
changes.
Daniel
Zhang,
longtime
CEO
of
Alibaba
Group,

unexpectedly
quit
and
then

stepped
down
as
CEO
of
the
company’s
cloud
unit.
Alibaba
veterans
Eddie
Yongming
Wu
took
over
as
CEO,
while
Joe
Tsai
became
chairman
in
September.

Alibaba
has
since
scrapped
the
initial
public
offerings
of
both
its

cloud
division
and

Cainiao,
its
logistics
unit.

Ma
is
reemerging
at
a
time
when
Alibaba
employees
are
likely
in
need
of
a
morale
boost.
He
praised
both
Tsai
and
Wu
for
their “future-oriented
transformations.”

The
Alibaba
founder
also
said
Alibaba
needs
to
think
what
e-commerce
looks
like
in
three
years’
time,
especially
since
the
arrival
of
artificial
intelligence.