Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma kept his message simple as he bowed out as CEO of the Chinese e-commerce giant on May 10.
Speaking to more than 20,000 Alibaba Group employees at Yellow Dragon Stadium in Hangzhou, China, Maurged the crowd to “trust (incoming CEO Jonathan Lu) as you trusted me. Trust the team as you trusted me.” One of China’s best-known entrepreneurs,Ma was the closing speaker at an Alibaba event celebrating the 10th anniversary of Taobao, the company’s groundbreaking online shopping platform.
To Learn More About Taobao’s First Decade, Click Here.
It was Ma’s last public address as CEO, and he repeated what he has told others in recent weeks: that unlike other famous corporate founders who have turned over the helm to others only to return to put a floundering company back on track, the 48-year-old Internetguru insisted that he will neverreturn as Alibaba CEO. “I will not come back,” he told employees. “Even if I did, I won’t be of any use because you will do a better job.”
But he isn’t going far. Although heis giving upday-to-day operational responsibilities for the company he founded in 1999,Ma continues to serve as Alibaba Group’s executive chairman. In an e-mail to employees announcing his decision to step down as CEO, he said he planned to focushis attention on setting strategic direction, helping to develop managerial talent within the company’s ranks, andstrengtheningAlibaba’scontributions to society. During his speech, he stressed the importance of trying to solve China’s severe environmental problems.
“The past 14 years have taught me what is persistence, hardship and responsibility,” he said, “and they also taught me that other people’s success is your own success.”
Last week, Ma had some other things to say about his career. Watch this video of his recent speech on China and the E-commerce Opportunity hosted by Stanford University:
Ma’s brief talk today was the capper for an evening of performances by Alibaba employees and business partners celebrating Taobao and China e-commerce milestones over the last 10 years.
