Alibaba’s Co-Founder Jack Ma to Retire Next Week at 54

Jack Ma, the executive chairman and co-founder of China’s e-commerce giant, Alibaba will retire from the company and dedicate his time to philanthropic work in education, reported The New York Times on Friday.

Ma started Alibaba in 1999 and before that, he was an English teacher. His company has come a long way and has revolutionized the digital payment world in China shifting how the Chinese people shop and pay for things.

Under his guidance, the e-commerce giant has grown to become the largest technology conglomerate in China. It has since extended to cloud computing, digital media, and a plethora of several other industries cementing itself as a daily reliable service provider with the online payments product Alipay. Alibaba also owns Weibo, one of the leading social media platforms in China.

Alibaba’s growth and expansion accelerated Mr. Ma’s net worth to more than 40 billion US dollars making him China’s richest man. In 2017, the company reported a revenue of about 40 billion US dollars and in the recent quarterly results, it registered 10 million dollars in e-commerce revenue. But after the announcement of his retirement, the shares of Alibaba fell more than 2 percent in after-hours trading. Meanwhile, the company’s annual active customer base hit a whopping 524 million!

According to Duncan Clark, the author of “Alibaba: The House Jack Ma Built”, the man is a “symbol of the health of China’s private sector and how high they can fly whether he likes it or not. His retirement will be interpreted as frustration or concern whether he likes it or not.”

Until 2013, Mr. Ma was Alibaba’s chief executive but stepped down to become the chairman. He ceded the position to David Zhang in 2013. According to The New York Times, Zhang may inherit Mr. Ma’s role and duties.

Ma’s exit comes at an early age, which is like Bill Gate’s early retirement from Microsoft. Nevertheless, Ma is revered in China and his altruistic actions have always been appreciated as it fosters education in rural areas in the country.

His retirement is bound to put more distance between the company and one of its most notable and charismatic spokesmen. The company is huge in China but is hardly famous in other countries and it has been looking to establish its presence globally.

IN the interview with the Times, Ma said that his exit is a beginning of a new era. He is set to retire officially on Monday, on his 54th birthday. The Chinese know this day as a holiday dubbed “Teacher’s Day.”