On September 10, Alibaba Group (hereinafter referred to as "Ali") issued a senior management change announcement.。

In the announcement, Ali said that the company has completed the leadership transition。Specifically, Cai Chongxin, one of Ali's "veterans," took over as chairman of the company's board of directors, and Wu Yongming took over as CEO and director of the company.。

Cai Chongxin, who joined Ali in 1999, is one of its founders and is considered Ali's "number two."。From 1999-2013, Mr. Tsai served as the company's CFO and led the company's New York listing in 2014, before being responsible for strategic investments.。After Ali announced the spin-off, he served as chairman of Cainiao Group, as well as as a director of Amoy Group and a director of Alibaba Group's financial services affiliate Ant Group.。

Unlike Tsai's financial background, Wu Yongming, who is also one of the founders, has a technical background.。Since 1999, Wu has served as the chief technology officer of Taobao, Alipay and other important businesses, leading the construction of the underlying technical architecture of related businesses; he has also served as the head of Ali's search, advertising and mobile business and the chairman of Ali Health.。Following Ali's announcement of the spin-off, Wu became chairman of the Amoy Group and served as a director in Local Life and Ali International Digital Group.。

In addition, the announcement also mentioned that Wu Yongming will replace Zhang Yong as acting chairman and chief executive officer of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group, and his appointment will take effect on September 10, 2023.。Ali will continue to implement the previously announced plan to spin off Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group and appoint its management team.。The Board of Directors would like to express its heartfelt thanks to Zhang Yong for his contributions to Alibaba Group over the past 16 years (including Zhang Yong as CEO since 2015, Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2019 and leading Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group since 2022).。

After the new official took office, Cai Chongxin also issued a full letter.。In the letter, it was mentioned that Zhang Yong's resignation as chairman and CEO of Aliyun was his initiative.。The letter commented on Zhang Yong's 16 years of "remarkable achievements" in Ali, from creating the Double Eleven Shopping Festival, promoting the comprehensive and rapid development of Tmall, to leading the company to the wireless era, and in a number of fields and global layout, Zhang Yong contributed.。Especially in the past four years, under the impact of the epidemic and changes in the external environment, Zhang Yong can help Ali stabilize the market and tide over all kinds of difficulties.。In order to thank Zhang Yong for his contribution, Ali awarded his company the first "meritorious Ali person" honorary title.。

For Zhang Yong's next plan, Cai Chongxin also mentioned in the full letter.。The letter mentions that Ali will invest $1 billion to support Zhang Yong in setting up a future-oriented technology fund to help Ali create a better ecological environment for the future layout of technology.。

Zhang Yong joined Ali in 2007 as Taobao's chief financial officer and is known within the company as "Xiaoyaozi."。In 2010, he entered the core of Ali as a professional manager, and Zhang Yong took over as CEO of the group when Jack Ma stepped down in 2015, on top of which Zhang Yong also served as chairman of the group's board of directors in 2019.。

Zhang Yong is a CFO background, compared to Ma Yun these "pioneers," Zhang Yong is more like a "city guard."。But at the helm of a huge enterprise is not an easy task, Zhang Yong took over Ali these years, he is undoubtedly a very good completion of the "city guard" duties.。Since his appointment as CEO, Ali has faced increasingly fierce competition, especially in the group's basic disk - e-commerce.。Ali not only faces competition from other traditional e-commerce platforms (such as Jingdong and Pinduoduo), but the rise of new e-commerce platforms (such as Kuaishou and Douyin) such as short videos and live broadcasts is also eating into the e-commerce market.。In addition, in the community group purchase, there are the United States group in the eye, Alipay's "old rival" WeChat payment is in hot pursuit of its。Other businesses such as entertainment and cloud business are also advancing in the fierce competition.。Nevertheless, Zhang Yong still led Ali to achieve 13 consecutive quarters of healthy and sustained growth, with this, "achievements" he deserves the four words。

This time Zhang Yong stepped down from all Ali positions in one breath, and even Ali Yun "abandoned it," which was a bit unexpected.。After Ali announced the spin-off, Zhang Yong said he would continue to serve as chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud, focusing on the development of Alibaba Cloud.。Alibaba Cloud is one of several business groups that will be listed on Alibaba. Driven by the current AI wave, some analysts believe that Alibaba Cloud's valuation can be as high as $40-60 billion.。But why Zhang Yong to "abandon" this thriving business, it is not clear。

Perhaps the burden of these years is too heavy, Zhang Yong needs a break;。At least now, it seems that without the "burden" of Ali, Zhang Yong can become a "Xiaoyaozi" like his nickname.。

And with Zhang Yong's withdrawal, Ali will also enter the "Cai Chongxin era."。Although both Cai Chongxin and Wu Yongming are part of Ali's founders, they were not deeply involved in Ali's overall operations in previous years。After the Ali reform to promote these "veterans" to take the helm, the outside world believes that it is likely to take a fancy to their investment experience。

As well-known investors, Cai Chongxin and Wu Yongming have many years of experience in venture capital.。Cai Chongxin gave up a high-paying job in the United States to join Ali in the early days of Ali's establishment, which is regarded as the best example of "insight" and its most successful investment.。In recent years, Cai Chongxin's investment direction has shifted to sports and e-sports.。Wu Yongming, who has a technical background, founded Yuanjing Capital as a co-investor in 2015, investing extensively in a variety of technology companies.。According to the official website of Yuanjing Capital, Yuanjing Capital focuses on hard core technology, industrial intelligence, industrial intelligence, medical technology, cross-border sea and other fields, with more than 150 investment projects, including ideal cars, graffiti intelligence, Huamai Tyco and so on.。

Cai Chongxin and Wu Yongming's rich investment experience will help Ali's next independent listing of several business groups.。In May, Ali disclosed the listing schedules of several business groups in its Q1 earnings report, among which Alibaba Cloud will seek to go public in the next 12 months, Rookie seeks to go public in the next 12 months, and Hema has the fastest schedule and is expected to complete the listing in the next 6 to 12 months.。

Let's wait and see where Ali will go in the "Cai Chongxin era."。

The following is the full letter issued by Tsai:

Dear Ali,

According to the announcement of Alibaba Group on June 20, we officially completed the transfer of the group's management position today, with me taking over as chairman of the group and Wu Yongming as CEO of the group.。Four years ago today, Mr. Ma handed over the baton of the chairman to CEO Xiaoyaozi, opening the first step in a century-old corporate heritage system.。After four years, Xiaoyaozi handed over the stick to me and Wu Yongming, continuing Ali's inheritance system.。As Mr. Ma said four years ago, this is not only a transfer of management positions, but also a system of inheritance, which is the basis for us to 102 years.。Wu Yongming and I will work with all Ali people to stick to our mission and vision and meet the next stage of development together.。

I am especially grateful to Xiaoyaozi for his dedication and contribution to Ali in the past 16 years.。He created Double Eleven, a well-known global consumer carnival, led Tmall's rapid development to promote the tide of brand enterprises' comprehensive Internet, led the team to enable Ali to successfully leap into the wireless era, and led the group to lay out in many fields and around the world.。After taking over as chairman of the group in the past four years, Xiaoyaozi has faced many challenges such as fighting the epidemic and drastic changes in the external business environment, and he has led Ali to stabilize the market and tide over one difficulty after another.。

In March of this year, in order to better face the future, the company launched the largest 1 + 6 + N organizational change in 24 years。With the joint efforts of Xiaoyaozi and the team, the whole change has been steadily advancing while each business continues to develop, and so far this change has basically taken shape and achieved initial results, laying an important foundation for the next phase of the company's development.。With the smooth transition of reform, Xiaoyaozi proposed to the group that he would step down as chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud.。After careful consideration, the Board of Directors of the Group respects Xiaoyaozi's decision and appoints Group CEO Wu Yongming as Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud with immediate effect.。Xiaoyaozi will continue to struggle with us in Ali in a different way to meet the future development.。The Group has decided to invest US $1 billion to support Xiaoyaozi in setting up a future-oriented science and technology fund to help Ali build a better ecological environment for the future layout of science and technology.。

In order to thank Xiaoyaozi for his great contribution to the development of the company, after discussion with Ali partners, it was decided to award Xiaoyaozi the first honorary title of "Meritorious Ali Man" in Ali history!

I also wish Alibaba a happy 24th birthday! Ali people, come on!

Alibaba Group Chairman Cai Chongxin

2023.9.10