Text | Xiaoxi
On June 20, Alibaba announced that Tsai Chongxin will succeed Daniel Zhang as chairman of the board of Alibaba Holding Group from September 10. The adjustment came a little suddenly, but not unexpectedly.
On March 28 this year, Alibaba's chairman Daniel Zhang issued a letter to all employees, announcing the launch of the "1+6+N" reform and the establishment of Cloud Intelligence Group, with him as CEO. On May 18, Daniel Zhang concurrently served as the chairman of Cloud Intelligence Group. At this point, Daniel Zhang one person holds four positions: chairman and CEO of Alibaba Holding Group, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group, whether it is personal energy or compliance requirements after the spin-off of Cloud Intelligence Group, all determine that this situation cannot be long-lasting.
At that time, there was speculation in the industry that Daniel Zhang may step down from his position in the Alibaba Group, and now, this speculation has been verified. Daniel Zhang will be all in Cloud Intelligence Group, and his position as chairman of the board and CEO of Alibaba Group will be taken over by Cai Chongxin and Wu Yongming, respectively.
On June 20, Daniel Zhang (middle) and Cai Chongxin (right) and Wu Yongming (left) officially started the handover.
Cai Chongxin is low-key, not many people knew him in his early years, until 2018 and 2019, he personally bought the NBA Nets, and many sports fans have known him since then. The last time Cai Chongxin was reported by the mass media was an interview with an American reporter in 2021, and in the face of various tricky questions, he answered without humility and reason, and was described by netizens as "1/2 calmness, 1/3 logic, 1/4 storytelling ability".
Cai Chongxin has experienced legends, and Ali officials have a high evaluation of him: "Cai Chongxin has always played an important role in the birth and development of Alibaba. From the company's inception in 1999 to 2013, he served as Group CFO; In 2014, he led the company's IPO in New York and was responsible for strategic investment work. His global experience and insight into the macro environment are strong support for Alibaba's further internationalization. His full understanding of Alibaba's development history, strategic direction, and cultural inheritance will help Alibaba Group continue to develop in the future. ”
A number of Alibaba insiders reported that the official evaluation is in line with the actual situation and is objective and fair, and Cai Chongxin has played the role of "ballast stone" in the history of Alibaba's development. "After Ali's '1+6+N' reform, the holding group has a new positioning, and Cai Chongxin's ability and qualifications determine that he is the most suitable successor for this position." An Ali manager said.
01. The key events of Tsai Chongxin
Combining the information of all parties and sorting out the key events surrounding Cai Chongxin, three keywords can be summarized: boldness, feelings, and leadership.
Be bold: give up your annual salary of 5.8 million yuan and join Ali to get a monthly salary of 500 yuan.
Cai Chongxin joined Alibaba as early as 1999, which was a crazy decision that ordinary people could not understand at the time.
Originally from Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, Tsai Chongxin was born in Taiwan, studied in the United States, and received a doctorate in law from Yale University. In 1995, at the age of 31, he moved his family to Hong Kong and became vice president of the Asia department of Sweden's AB Investment Group, with an annual salary of 700,000 US dollars, about 5.8 million yuan according to the exchange rate at the time.
Cai Chongxin's job is investment, and as an investor, the biggest certainty is to "buy shares in the flesh". Cai Chongxin once recalled in an interview with media person Sun Yanjun that he first met Ma Yun in May 1999 at Ma Yun's home in Hangzhou Lakeside Garden. At that time, Ma Yun had already assembled a team of 16 people to start the business, and Cai Chongxin visited as an investment manager.
The two talked all night, and Cai Chongxin was impressed by Jack Ma. A month later, when Ma Yun did not invite him, Cai Chongxin volunteered and offered to resign and work with them. Ma Yun was taken aback, saying that he could only open a salary of 500 yuan per month, and advised Cai Chongxin not to be impulsive and consider it again.
Cai's wife, Wu Minghua, was a vice president at a company in Hong Kong at the time, and after Cai Chongxin said the idea of resigning and jumping ship, she felt that her husband was "crazy". But Wu Minghua did not categorically object, she followed to Hangzhou, and after the face-to-face chat, she also felt that Ma Yun was reliable, and finally supported her husband's decision. In this way, Cai Chongxin gave up his annual salary of 5.8 million yuan and officially joined Alibaba on October 1 of that year and became the founding CFO, with a monthly salary of 500 yuan.
Cai Chongxin said modestly afterwards that he made this crazy decision based on feeling and had no rational basis. He believes that Jack Ma has ideas, team passions, and is worth the risk. In fact, Cai Chongxin has played an important role in all stages of Ali's development since then, and after the team's great success, his "god" level job-hopping story has become legendary.
Sentimental: There are many public welfare donation projects, and heavy funds support the development of Chinese women's football and their hometown Huzhou.
After taking over as chairman of Alibaba's board, Tsai Chongxin may enter the public eye more. Prior to this, as executive vice chairman of the board, he was low-key, and the only public appearances he had every year were basically to participate in public welfare activities.
In August 2018, Cai Chongxin donated to establish the "Cai Chongxin Public Welfare Foundation", according to the official website of the foundation, it is mainly committed to donating education and sports projects, spreading the concept of "integration of sports and education", inspiring the young generation to pursue physical health and all-round development, and shaping leadership and sound character through sports. Cai Chongxin injected his management experience into the foundation, which brought good operational results, and the foundation was rated as a 5A social organization in 2021.
In the past 5 years of operation, Cai Chongxin Foundation has initiated and participated in more than 11 public welfare projects, such as: in July 2019, it donated 100 million yuan to the Chinese Football Association for the Chinese Women's Football Support Program. Another example is the establishment of the Cai Chongxin Basketball Scholarship to fund the good seedlings of Chinese basketball to study in the United States, and 15 people have been sponsored so far.
Cai Chongxin's hometown is Shuanglin Town, Nanxun District, Huzhou City, and he has a deep affection for his hometown and is generous. The official number of "Huzhou United Front" revealed in an article in August 2022 that up to that time, Cai Chongxin had donated more than 67 million yuan to his hometown, including: donating to the construction of Cai Chongxin Gymnasium, Shuanglin Town Youth Cultural Education Base, setting up Cai Chongxin Scholarship and other projects.
Leadership: Contribute to Ali and lead the team to create the largest IPO in the history of the New York Stock Exchange.
The addition of Cai Chongxin 24 years ago made up for the lack of financial and legal professional capabilities of the grassroots team, not only allowed Alibaba to get off to a smooth start, but also had a modern corporate governance structure and a global development pattern from the first day of its establishment.
When Cai Chongxin first joined, Ma Yun's team had not even had time to register the company, and the 500,000 yuan of start-up funds that everyone had cobbled together was already tight. Cai Chongxin explained to everyone what is a share, what is a shareholder's equity, how to dilute the equity after the introduction of investment, and formally established the company after everyone signed and pledged.
With Tsai's dealing, in October 1999, Alibaba brought in its first round of $5 million venture capital, with investors including his old club, Sweden's AB Investment Group. This money was a gift and kicked off their legendary entrepreneurial story.
From 1999 to 2013, Tsai served as CFO of Alibaba for 14 years, before becoming Executive Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors after 2013. By managing his money bags, he ensured that Alibaba survived the hardships of the Internet winter and other tribulations, and grew rapidly in the continuous incubation of new businesses such as Taobao, Alipay, and Alibaba Cloud. Alibaba went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007 and on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 — the largest IPO in NYSE history, led by Tsai Chongxin on both occasions.
02. Why did Tsai Chongxin succeed the Daniel Zhang?
From the perspective of Alibaba Group's board, Tsai may be the most suitable successor for Daniel Zhang. After the "1+6+N" reform, Alibaba Group transformed into a holding group, and its functions changed significantly, and it no longer directly manages the day-to-day operations of its business units. According to Ali's official press release, the holding group will mainly do three things in the future: one is to support and coordinate the development of various business groups, the other is to become a discoverer and promoter of new technologies, and the third is to become a base camp for innovative business incubation.
Alibaba's "6+N" business track is complex, has different development stages, and there are synergies and cooperation between them, and the decision-makers of the holding group must fully understand and fully understand the work in order to carry out their work. As a long-term vice chairman of the board of directors and a member of the Alibaba Investment Committee, Cai Chongxin knows the past and present of all businesses, whether it is an internal incubation business or an external acquisition business.
Last month, Mr. Tsai became chairman of Cainiao Group and director of Taotian Group, and now chairman of Alibaba Holding Group, and the two things are logically connected. Alibaba is the majority shareholder of Cainiao, which is currently planning an IPO. Taotian Group, wholly owned by Alibaba, is the main source of Alibaba's profits, and serving as a director helps him understand Taotian more fully.
The future team with Cai Chongxin is CEO Wu Yongming. Cai Chongxin's global vision + investment ability, and Wu Yongming's technology insight + investment ability will become the key to Alibaba's discovery and promotion of new technologies and incubation of innovative businesses.
According to public information, Wu Yongming became chairman of Taotian Group last month and served as a director of Alibaba International Digital Business Group and Alibaba Local Life Group, three positions that echo his latest position as CEO of Holding Group.
Wu Yongming is a founding employee of Alibaba, having served as CTO at Alibaba B2B, Alipay and Taobao, and led the development of mobile Taobao. Wu Yongming also has both investment and commercialization capabilities, which are relatively rare in CTOs. He is not only the founding general manager of Alima, the cash cattle business of Alibaba, but also led the investment and mergers and acquisitions of UC and AutoNavi . In 2015, Wu Yongming founded Yuanjing Capital, and his investment fields covered hard core technology, industrial intelligent manufacturing, industrial digital intelligence, medical technology, cross-border overseas expansion, etc., and participated in star projects such as Li Auto.
Based on the new positioning of the holding group, whether Alibaba's value can be increased in the future may depend on four aspects: first, whether Taobao Tmall can continue to grow; Second, whether the track of globalization can be rapidly expanded; THE THIRD IS WHETHER THE BUSINESS OF CAINIAO, HEMA AND LAZADA CAN BE LISTED INDEPENDENTLY; The fourth is whether it is possible to incubate the next Tmall, Alipay, and Alibaba Cloud with new technologies and new tracks. It should be said that the ability models of Cai Chongxin and Wu Yongming together can well meet these four challenges, and foreign investment and globalization are possible new highlights and will also become the focus of external attention.
Image source: Alibaba official account