Alibaba Group has announced the addition of four members to its core management group, expanding thebody for the first time since the company went public in September 2014.
Joining the group, called the Alibaba Partnership, areYu Yongfu, president of Alibaba UC Mobile Business Group and president of the company’s Alimama digital marketing unit; Alibaba Group Deputy Chief Financial Officer Zheng Junfang; Ant Financial Deputy President Zhao Ying; and Sun Lijun, general manager of Alibaba’s Taobao business.The additional members brings the total size of the group to 34.
The Alibaba Partnership – which includes Alibaba Group Executive Chairman Jack Ma, CEO Daniel Zhang, and other key executives and company founders – was created in 2010 to preserve Alibaba’s entrepreneurial culture and maintain its mission, vision and values long after founders have moved on. Unlike some public companies that use a dual-class share structure to concentrate control in a few founders, Alibaba says it uses the partnership model to best manage its businesses.
Here’s the full press release announcing the new appointments:
Alibaba Group Holding Limited announced today the joining of four new partners to its Alibaba Partnership, a move that is designed to ensure the sustainability of the Group’s mission, vision, and values in the management of the company through cultivating the next generation of leaders.
The new partners are: Yu Yongfu, President of Alibaba UC Mobile Business Group and President of Alimama; Zheng Junfang, Deputy Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group; Zhao Ying, Deputy President of Ant Financial, and Sun Lijun, General Manager of Alibaba’s Rural Taobao business.
On announcing the appointments, the Alibaba Partnership said, “As Alibaba Group continues to optimize its business structure in preparation for the challenges ahead, the four newly appointed partners will work in conjunction with the existing 30 partners to deepen Alibaba Partnership’s efforts to protect, pass on and enhance the company’s culture, mission and values.”
The four new partners come from a range of different backgrounds with extensive expertise in their respective fields, including mobile Internet, B2B, as well as finance. Alibaba Group aims to bring in partners with a rich diversification of background, skills and experience to ensure successful strategic decision-making. More than 80 per cent of the 34 partners were born after 1970 and, combined, have an average age of 42.
This is the first time Alibaba has added new members to the Partnership since the initial public offering in New York last year.
The Alibaba Partnership is a dynamic body that rejuvenates itself through admission of new partners each year. To be eligible for election, a partner candidate must have demonstrated attributes such as a high standard of integrity, a track record of contribution to the Group’s business, and being a “culture carrier” whose commitments are consistent with the Group’s mission, vision and values.
Partnership candidates are chosen through a nomination process whereby existing partners propose candidates to the Partnership Committee, which will then review the nominations and determine whether the nomination of a candidate will be proposed to the entire partnership for election.
The Partnership Committee must consist of at least five partners. Committee members serve for a term of three years and may serve multiple terms subject to an election every three years.
