Along with the largest organizational change in Alibaba Group's history, the group also ushered in the largest personnel change since Jack Ma stepped down.
On June 20, Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Holding Group, disclosed his upcoming departure in a letter to all employees, and revealed that Cai Chongxin, executive vice chairman of Alibaba Senior Management Group, will become chairman of the board of Alibaba Holding Group. Wu Yongming became CEO of Alibaba Holding Group and continues to serve as Chairman of Taotian Group, both founders and partners of Alibaba.
It can be seen that Alibaba's founding elders are accelerating their return to the front line of business. According to media reports, in late May, Alibaba founder Jack Ma convened the heads of various businesses of Taotian Group for a small-scale communication meeting, Ma Yun believes that the current competition situation facing Taotian Group is very serious, and Ali e-commerce should "return to Taobao". For this news, as of press time, Taotian Group has not replied. Nandu reporters noticed that on June 17, the Damo Academy announced that the final of the "Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition" was opened, and 685 players from 19 countries around the world advanced, and the final showdown lasted 8 hours on the same day. Before the start of the competition, Ma Yun came to the event site in Hangzhou to learn about the final, and communicated with the contestants and proposition teachers online.
Jack Ma at the final of the "Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition" in Hangzhou.
Alibaba's founding father returns to business
Nandu reporters combed and found that in addition to the chairman and CEO of Alibaba Holding Group will be taken over by Alibaba's "18 Arhats" in September this year, 3 of the 5 board members of Taotian Group are also Alibaba's "18 Arhats" (that is, the founding elders), Wu Yongming, Dai Shan, Cai Chongxin are all founders who joined Alibaba in 1999 and are current partners.
Among them, Cai Chongxin is currently the executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group, which has always played an important role in the birth and development of Alibaba. From founding in 1999 to 2013, he served as the Group's CFO, leading the company's IPO in New York in 2014, after which he was responsible for strategic investments. He will succeed Daniel Zhang as chairman of the board of Alibaba Holding Group in September.
Wu Yongming has a deep technical background, having served as the chief technology officer of many important businesses such as B2B, Taobao, Alipay, etc., and led the construction of the underlying technical architecture of related businesses; He led the creation of the group's core business, the Alimama platform, and the innovation incubation of mobile Taobao promoted the group's wirelessization. Wu Yongming will become CEO of Alibaba Holding Group and continue to serve as Chairman of Taotian Group.
Dai Shan is also one of Alibaba's "Eighteen Arhats" and has been active in Alibaba's business line. In 2022, he will be responsible for Alibaba's newly established "domestic digital business" sector, and after the "1+6+N" reform in 2023, he will be responsible for Taotian Group, and currently serves as the director and CEO of Taotian Group.
In addition, Wu Zeming joined Alibaba in 2004 as the Chief Technology Officer of Local Life, and has a history of nearly 20 years in Alibaba and is one of the current partners of Alibaba. Jiang Fan joined Alibaba in 2013 as president of Taobao Tmall and was listed as a partner of Alibaba, but in 2020 due to improper handling of personal and family problems caused negative public opinion to Alibaba, he was demoted and revoked as an Alibaba partner, and is currently the CEO of Alibaba International Digital Business Group in addition to his position as a director of Taotian Group.
Image source: Alibaba's FY2022 Annual Report (as of March 2022)
In addition to Taotian Group, Alibaba founding elders can also be frequently seen in Cloud Intelligence Group, Local Life, and Cainiao Group, such as Jiang Fang, Peng Lei, Dai Shan, Tong Wenhong, etc.
Director and CEO of Cloud Intelligence Group
Member of the Board of Directors of Alibaba International Digital Business Group
Member of the Board of Directors of Local Life Group, Cainiao Group and Grand Entertainment Group
Jack Ma will internally: The competition situation of Taotian Group is grim
Another sign to watch is the "return" of Alibaba founder Jack Ma. According to media reports, in late May, Alibaba founder Jack Ma convened the heads of various businesses of Taotian Group for a small-scale communication meeting.
According to a number of Ali employees, Ma Yun believes that the current competitive situation facing Taotian Group is very serious, he used Nokia and Kodak as examples, he believes that a company from industry benchmark to death, half a year to one year is enough, in the Internet industry this speed may be faster. Ma Yun said at the meeting that Alibaba's past successful methodologies may not be applicable and should be quickly changed.
He pointed out three directions for Taotian Group: return to Taobao, return to users, and return to the Internet. In addition, Ma Yun believes that Taotian should be further flattened organizationally. Ma Yun judged that the current domestic economic downturn and lack of consumer confidence will continue, so the next opportunity is Taobao instead of Tmall, and Ali e-commerce should "return to Taobao". For this news, as of press time, Taotian Group has not replied.
But judging from the action of 618, Taobao's status has risen significantly. First of all, the official expression of this year's 618 event became "Taobao Tmall 618", and the expression of previous years was "Tmall 618" / "Tmall Double 11". At the same time, unlike previous years, which focused on brand sales, this year's Taobao 618's support for small and medium-sized businesses has increased significantly, according to the official statement, "the most abundant C position is given to small and medium-sized businesses".
Changed from "Tmall 618/Tmall Double 11" to "Taobao Tmall 618".
On the other hand, as the founder of Taobao, Wu Yongming will not only serve as the chairman of Taotian Group, but also succeed Daniel Zhang as CEO of Alibaba Holding Group in September, and it is foreseeable that Taobao's status in the Alibaba e-commerce system will be further improved in the future, which is also consistent with the direction pointed out by Ma Yun for Taotian Group at the above-mentioned internal meeting.
Taobao will return to the C position in Alibaba's e-commerce sector and become the main force against Douyin, Kuaishou and Pinduoduo. During the just-concluded 618 period, Taobao Tmall no longer announced specific GMV, emphasizing that the three indicators of users, merchant scale and transaction volume were growing positively across the board.
"The first goal of this year's 618 is not GMV, but how to help larger merchants," said Liu Bo, president of Alimama and marketing public relations of Taotian Group, adding that the growth of leading merchants, especially flagship stores, is still strong, and increasing the participation and transaction scale of small and medium-sized merchants is a more urgent and important goal of Taobao Tmall this year.
Written by: Nandu reporter Ma Ningning from Shanghai