Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Alibaba's Jack Ma, China's Richest Man, To Retire From Company He Co-Founded (nytimes.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the beginning-of-an-era dept.

According to The New York Times, Alibaba's co-founder and executive chairman, Jack Ma, is stepping down from the Chinese e-commerce giant on Monday (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source) to pursue philanthropy in education. From the report: A former English teacher, Mr. Ma started Alibaba in 1999 and built it into one of the world's most consequential e-commerce and digital payments companies, transforming how Chinese people shop and pay for things. That fueled his net worth to more than $40 billion, making him China's richest man. He is revered by many Chinese, some of whom have put his portrait in their homes to worship in the same way that they worship the God of Wealth.

In an interview, Mr. Ma said his retirement is not the end of an era but "the beginning of an era." He said he would be spending more of his time and fortune focused on education. "I love education," he said. Mr. Ma will remain on Alibaba's board of directors and continue to mentor the company's management. Mr. Ma turns 54 on Monday, which is also a holiday in China known as Teacher's Day. The retirement makes Mr. Ma one of the first founders among a generation of prominent Chinese internet entrepreneurs to step down from their companies.

6 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. A courageous move by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How many people are capable of retiring like Xinshng Ma, at the top of his game, at 54 without injury, disease, or corporate coup?

    Like our vaunted sports heroes, too many corporate demigods stay too long; stagnating, afraid to leave the comforts of the present to move on to the next adventure.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:A courageous move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      I guess any anti-China conspiracy theory sounds plausible to Americans.

      The fact is Jack Ma has been talking about wanting to go back to teaching for years already. It is no secret he mentioned many times he wanted to teach how to run business and his own business started out as a kind of experiment to actually implement the theory he taught in school.

      That didn’t tarnish the fact he is not sidetracked by all the money he has made.

  2. wtf God of Wealth? by magarity · · Score: 2

    There is no "God of Weath". You may be confused about "fat, laughing Buddha" who is often depicted with plenty of money but that's just because he's associated with success and happiness.

  3. Following Wozniak's example by drnb · · Score: 4, Informative

    He's following the example of Steve Wozniak of Apple fame who left Apple and became a school teacher.

  4. Re: Tech Economy by phantomfive · · Score: 2

    Not a problem. When technology stops advancing, we'll just rewrite everything in Rust and Haskell, that'll do it for a while.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  5. He already steppded down by phalse+phace · · Score: 2

    This isn't really that big of a deal since he's stepping down as Executive Chairman. He already stepped down as CEO in 2013.

    The CEO is more important than the Executive Chairman since the CEO plays an active day-to-day role in the company's operations.

    Ma wasn't really involved in the company's operations while as chairman.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/alibabas-jack-ma-to-step-down-as-executive-chairman-1536381356

    Mr. Ma started a leadership transition five years ago, when he stepped down as chief executive. Alibaba’s chief executive is Daniel Zhang and the executive vice chairman is Joe Tsai.

    Since stepping down, the charismatic technology billionaire has spent much of his time at Alibaba’s Hangzhou campus receiving visiting dignitaries or traveling the world to speak out on causes he believes in.