On April 10th, Red Star Capital Bureau reported that today, Jack Ma, under the name "Fengqingyang", posted a post on the Alibaba (09988. HK; BABA. US) intranet titled "To Reform and Innovation", stating that Alibaba has returned to a healthy growth track and supports continued reform.
Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that on September 10, 2019, Jack Ma retired and stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alibaba Group. This post on the intranet is Jack Ma's first lengthy sharing of his thoughts on the company's reform, innovation, and future prospects in the five years since his retirement.
Jack Ma's first long speech after retirement
"E-commerce in three years is definitely not the hottest e-commerce today"
On April 10th, Jack Ma posted a post on the Alibaba intranet titled "To Reform and Innovation".
As soon as Jack Ma arrived, he mentioned a video of Joe (referring to Cai Chongxin, co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of Alibaba) in an interview, "Someone told me that this video is a big confession of our past mistakes. Yes, thank you to Joe for his courage and responsibility. There are mistakes that are not scary, and no one does not make mistakes. What is truly scary is not knowing mistakes, not admitting mistakes, and not correcting them."
According to China Securities News, recently, Cai Chongxin reflected on Alibaba's mistakes in an interview with Norway's sovereign wealth fund. "In the past few years, Alibaba has fallen behind." "We have forgotten who our true customers are and have not truly focused on creating value for our users."
Jack Ma said that in the past 25 years, Alibaba has achieved many successes and made countless mistakes. "We must keep up with the times, not only to bravely acknowledge and timely correct yesterday's problems, but also to reform towards the future."
At the same time, Jack Ma supported the new management in his post, stating that in the past year, Cai Chongxin and Wu Yongming have led Alibaba with admirable courage and wisdom to carry out a series of future oriented changes.
Jack Ma believes that in the past year, Alibaba's most core change has not been to catch up with KPIs, but to recognize itself and return to the customer value track. By targeting large companies, Alibaba has returned to prioritizing efficiency and market, becoming simple and agile.
For the future, Jack Ma said that in an era of tremendous technological change, three to five years is enough time to undergo earth shattering changes. "I believe that e-commerce in three years is definitely not the hottest e-commerce today... The AI era has just arrived, everything has just begun, and we are at the right time!"
According to insiders at Alibaba, Jack Ma's tone is firm and optimistic. "Although Mr. Ma has not been in a specific management position in recent years, as the founder, he always stood up at critical moments of the company's development, providing employees with guidance and encouragement.".
"1+6+N" Change by pressing the pause button
Alibaba Cloud, Hema, and Cainiao have successively terminated their spin off listing
Red Star Capital Bureau's review found that Alibaba had attempted to push for organizational restructuring to be "1+6+N", but multiple developments have pressed the pause button, and now may be a critical moment for Alibaba.
On March 28, 2023, Zhang Yong, former Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, announced in a letter to all members that a new round of governance reform will be launched, establishing six major business groups and forming a "1+6+N" organizational structure.
In May 2023, the listing and financing plans of Alibaba Cloud, Hema, and Cainiao were announced.
In July 2023, Zhang Yong issued a letter to shareholders stating that under the new governance framework, except for Taotian Group, other business groups and companies can independently raise funds in the market and even go public independently when they have the conditions.
However, in September 2023, Alibaba changed its leadership and Zhang Yong resigned from his position as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Alibaba Holdings Group, replaced by Cai Chongxin (Chairman of the Board) and Wu Yongming (CEO).
In November 2023, Alibaba disclosed that it would no longer proceed with the complete spin off of the Cloud Intelligence Group, and Hema's IPO was announced to be temporarily suspended.
In November 2023, for the first time, the market value of Pinduoduo (PDD. US) surpassed Alibaba. An employee posted on the intranet saying "it's difficult to sleep at this moment", and Jack Ma replied, "I firmly believe that Alibaba will change, Alibaba will change, and all great companies are born in winter."
On March 26th of this year, Alibaba announced that in order to better strengthen collaboration with Alibaba's e-commerce business and continue to support Cainiao's expansion of global logistics network investment, it has decided to withdraw Cainiao's listing application.
Regarding Cainiao's withdrawal from IPO, Cai Chongxin stated that this was the group's proactive decision, not regulatory intervention. On the one hand, Cainiao still needs long-term investment and patience to further expand its global logistics network; On the other hand, the financial information in the prospectus has expired, and the company is at the critical stage of deciding whether to continue applying for IPO, while the current market environment cannot reflect the true value of Cainiao.
At this point, the imagination of major business groups under Alibaba's "1+6+N" organizational structure moving towards independent listing has been suspended.
In an interview in February this year, Cai Chongxin said, "With the restructuring of the company and the placement of new management, we are more confident in being among the top e-commerce companies in China." "Although we are not as confident as before because we feel competitive pressure, now we are back."
Has Alibaba, which is full of competitiveness, returned? Where will we go next?
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