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Ex-CEO of Alibaba Zhang Quits As Cloud Head

The news led to shares of Alibaba Group slipping 3 per cent at the close of trading in Hong Kong — touted as the biggest setback since August 18…reports Asian Lite News

In a surprise development, former Alibaba Group Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang has stepped down as head of the e-commerce giant’s cloud division, the media reported on Monday.

His resignation from the Cloud unit came as he was scheduled to hand the reins of the parent company to co-founder Joe Tsai, reports the South China Morning Post.

The news led to shares of Alibaba Group slipping 3 per cent at the close of trading in Hong Kong — touted as the biggest setback since August 18.

“Alibaba’s new CEO Eddie Wu Yongming has also taken over for Zhang as acting chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group on the same day,” the report said, quoting an Alibaba spokesperson.

Alibaba “will continue to execute its previously announced plan to spin off Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group under a separate management team to be appointed”, the spokesperson added.

Alibaba announced in June that 51-year-old Zhang would resign as Alibaba CEO and chairman.

However, he was likely to stay on as head of the cloud unit “given the importance of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group as it progresses towards a full spin-off”.

Zhang took over as Alibaba CEO in 2015 and as chairman in 2019.

Chinese internet giant Alibaba is making significant job cuts in its Cloud unit, reportedly around 7 per cent of its workforce, as it plans separate IPOs for its various business groups.

Earlier, the Chinese tech giant said it was planning to split the company into six business units, and each unit will explore fundraising or IPOs (initial public offerings).

The six units include the Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, Local Services Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics Group, Global Digital Commerce Group, and Digital Media and Entertainment Group.

Each business unit will be led by its own CEO and board of directors.

ALSO READ-China slaps hefty fines on Alibaba, Tencent

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China slaps hefty fines on Alibaba, Tencent

China’s central bank also announced to slap a 7.123 billion yuan (around $1 billion) fine on Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba…reports Asian Lite News

China has slapped hefty penalties on the country’s two digital payments giants, Tencent and Alibaba, as part of its regulatory crackdown that began a couple of years ago.

Tencent, along with its payments subsidiary Tenpay, has been fined approximately 2.99 billion yuan ($410 million) by the People’s Bank of China.

Tencent said it has received a notice from the People’s Bank of China regarding its decision to impose a fine in the amount of approximately 2.99 billion yuan “on Tenpay for its past regulatory breaches in relation to the provision of payment services in the mainland of China”.

“The company believes the financial regulators will focus on normalised regulation going forward, implementing financial policies and measures to promote the healthy development of the platform economy, and supporting and encouraging platform companies to continue their efforts in financial inclusion,” it said in a statement.

Tencent said that as Tenpay has completed its self-inspection and corresponding rectification work, and the operational compliance capability of its payment business has been enhanced, “the company considers that the Decision does not have any material adverse impact on the operations and financial position of the Group as a whole”.

China’s central bank also announced to slap a 7.123 billion yuan (around $1 billion) fine on Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba.

Ant Group was fined “for a range of illegal activities, including those concerning corporate governance, consumer protection, banking and insurance, payments and settlement, anti-money laundering practices and fund sales,” reports TechCrunch.

In March, reports surfaced that Chinese tech giant Alibaba was planning to split the company into six business units, and each unit will explore fundraising or IPOs (initial public offerings).

During the past couple of years, Alibaba has faced slowing economic growth at home and tougher regulation from Beijing, which caused its share price to fall by billions.

“The move is designed to unlock shareholder value and foster market competitiveness,” Alibaba was quoted as saying.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who has rarely been seen in public in the past years, resurfaced a couple of times this year. He has kept a low profile since criticising China’s financial regulators in 2020.

In late 2020, China called off Ant’s initial public offering, which would have become the largest IPO in history.

ALSO READ-Alibaba unveils split-up plans

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Jack Ma’s surprise Pak visit creates stir among observers

Jack Ma during the visit, avoided interactions with government officials and the media..reports Asian Lite News

Chinese billionaire and co-founder of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, has created a stir among observers with his unexpected visit to Pakistan, according to the Express Tribune newspaper.

Former Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI), Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, confirmed the visit to The Express Tribune, stating that Ma arrived in Lahore on June 29 and stayed for 23 hours.

Jack Ma during the visit, avoided interactions with government officials and the media. He resided at a private location and left on June 30 via a private jet registered under the name VP-CMA, owned by Jet Aviation.

According to The Express Tribune, while the purpose of Ma’s visit remains confidential at this point, there is hope that it will yield positive outcomes for Pakistan in the days to come, according to Ahsan.

Ma was accompanied by a delegation of seven businessmen, consisting of five Chinese nationals, one Danish individual, and one US citizen. They arrived in Pakistan from Nepal via a chartered flight from Hong Kong’s business aviation sector.

There have been various speculations on social media about Ma and his team exploring business opportunities in Pakistan, including visits to trade centres and meetings with prominent businessmen and officials from various chambers of commerce. However, there has been no confirmation regarding any specific business deals or meetings.

Ahsan in a tweet clarified that Ma’s visit was strictly for personal purposes. Interestingly, even the Chinese embassy was unaware of the details of Ma’s visit and engagements in the country, he said.

Speaking to the Express Tribune, P@SHA, Chairman, Zohaib Khan remarked, “Although it was a personal visit, it helped enhance Pakistan’s reputation from a tourism standpoint.” Khan expressed the view that Pakistani authorities should have taken the opportunity to arrange a meeting with Ma and gain insights from his seasoned experience in the IT world. He said even a statement from Ma regarding Pakistan’s IT sector would have significant impact. (ANI)

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Business China Economy

Alibaba unveils split-up plans

Hangzhou, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- File photo shows the logo of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong/IANS)

The report also mentioned that the company sees the creation of the six businesses as a way to be more agile….reports Asian Lite News

Chinese tech giant Alibaba on Tuesday said that it is planning to split the company into six business units, and each unit will explore fundraising or IPOs (initial public offerings), media reports said.

The six units will include the Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, Local Services Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics Group, Global Digital Commerce Group, and Digital Media and Entertainment Group, reports CNBC.

Each business unit will be led by its own CEO and board of directors.

During the past couple of years, Alibaba has faced slowing economic growth at home and tougher regulation from Beijing, which caused its share price to fall by billions.

“The move is designed to unlock shareholder value and foster market competitiveness,” Alibaba was quoted as saying.

Moreover, the report stated that Alibaba’s shares popped more than 9 per cent in pre-market trade in the US after it announced to split the company into six business units.

“Each of these units can pursue independent fundraising and a public listing when they’re ready,” Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang, was quoted as saying.

The report also mentioned that the company sees the creation of the six businesses as a way to be more agile.

“This transformation will empower all our businesses to become more agile, enhance decision-making, and enable faster responses to market changes,” Zhang said.

Meanwhile, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who has rarely been seen in public in the past three years, has resurfaced at a school in China’s Hangzhou, media reports said.

The 58-year-old has kept a low profile since criticising China’s financial regulators in 2020.

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Jack Ma returns to mainland China after long absence

Requests for comments from Alibaba and the Jack Ma Foundation were not immediately met with a response….reports Asian Lite News

Chinese magnate Jack Ma has returned to mainland China after spending roughly a year overseas, according to people familiar with the matter, reported Wall Street Journal.

Jack Ma, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s billion co-founder, travels have drawn a great deal of attention as China attempts to win back the trust of entrepreneurs after years of regulatory restrictions and Covid-19 epidemic measures that severely damaged the nation’s private enterprises. Some in the business world saw the tech titan’s prolonged absence as proof that the tech industry in China was still plagued by uncertainty. Ma, who spent the majority of the previous year in Japan, recently made a trip back to China, according to the sources quoted by Wall Street Journal. He recently visited Singapore and Australia and spent the most recent Lunar New Year in Hong Kong.

Requests for comments from Alibaba and the Jack Ma Foundation were not immediately met with a response.

At his first news conference in his new role earlier this month, China’s new premier spent a significant amount of time assuring entrepreneurs that Beijing supports the private sector and that its “commitment in this area is unequivocal and constant.”

The South China Morning Post, which belongs to Alibaba, first announced Ma’s return to China, reported Wall Street Journal.

Ma has maintained a low profile after Ant Group Co. cancelled initial public offerings in Hong Kong and Shanghai that were expected to raise more than USD 34 billion in November 2020.

The cancellations happened as a result of authorities’ anger over Ma’s remarks at a financial forum. Authorities then opened an investigation against Alibaba for allegedly engaging in anticompetitive activities on its e-commerce platform, and the company was ultimately slammed with a record-breaking USD 2.8 billion fine.

Soon after, China began a broad regulatory crackdown on other private companies, increasing regulations on everything from video games and education to real estate.

Ma relinquished leadership of Ant Group in January after the company’s shareholders approved a restructuring of business. The crackdown on the fintech operations of more than a dozen internet companies was “basically” over, according to the party chief at China’s central bank, who made the statement on the same day.

Ma has mostly disappeared from public view since giving a speech that criticised regulators on the eve of the cancelled Ant listing in 2020.

Regulators had pulled the plug on November 3, 2020, on the initial public offering of Ant Group, the internet finance giant, which had been all but ready to press “Go” on its USD 34-billion stock debut in Shanghai and Hong Kong, the New York Times had reported.

NYT had reported that the initial public offering would have brought in more cash than did Saudi Aramco, the state-run oil giant when it went public last year.

And Ant would have raised the money on the opposite side of the planet from New York, which has long been the favoured listing destination for Chinese tech groups.

Ant Group’s controller Jack Ma, executive chairman Eric Jing and CEO Simon Hu were summoned and interviewed by regulators in China, according to a statement from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. (ANI)

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Business

Major rejigs in Alibaba

Hangzhou, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- File photo shows the logo of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong/IANS)

In a separate move, Jeff Zhang will focus on his role as head of the Alibaba DAMO Academy and no longer serve as President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence….reports Asian Lite News

In a major reshuffle amid intense scrutiny by the Chinese government, Alibaba Group on Thursday unveiled key senior management changes, including Wu Zeming’s rise to the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), as its Hong Kong servers suffered a serious outage that shut down many services in the region.

Daniel Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, will assume the role of acting President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence and responsibility for the communication and collaboration platform DingTalk.

In a separate move, Jeff Zhang will focus on his role as head of the Alibaba DAMO Academy and no longer serve as President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

He will continue to be responsible for Alibaba’s proprietary chip development team T-Head and Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives, the company said in a statement.

“Over the past four years, Jeff has led the Alibaba Cloud Intelligence team to deliver outstanding results in technological innovation and industry influence,” said Daniel Zhang in an internal email to staff announcing the executive appointments.

“As the country enters a new stage of living with Covid and policymakers have given direction to the future development of the platform economy, we are more confident than ever that continued development is the key to solving the challenges we face today,” he added.

The timing of the restructuring is sparking speculation as the server failure, which lasted up to one day for some customers, made the incident one of the biggest among Chinese cloud providers in recent history.

Zeming will continue to serve as the CTO of the Local Services division in addition to his newly appointed roles.

Before Cheng became Alibaba’s CTO in 2019, he held various senior roles at its financial services affiliate, Ant Group. Moving forward, Cheng will continue to work with Daniel Zhang as an advisor on technology.

Zhou Jingren will serve as CTO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence in addition to his current role as Deputy Head of the DAMO Academy.

On April 1, 2023, Jane Jiang will succeed Judy Tong as Group Chief People Officer, a role she has held since 2017.

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Business

Alibaba to sell Zomato shares worth $200 million

Hangzhou, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- File photo shows the logo of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong/IANS)

Zomato’s share price has fallen over 55 per cent this year, amid senior level exits and job cuts….reports Asian Lite News

Chinese behemoth Alibaba is set to sell its shares worth $200 million in Zomato via a block deal on Wednesday, the media reported.

According to CNBC Awaaz, citing sources, Ant Financial and Alipay would bring down their stake in the Deepinder Goyal-run food delivery unicorn to about 10 per cent from the current 13 per cent.

“The block deal is said to happen at a discount of about 5-6 per cent,” said the report.

Zomato refused to comment when contacted by IANS.

Zomato’s share price has fallen over 55 per cent this year, amid senior level exits and job cuts.

In August this year, top VC firm Sequoia Capital India had sold 17.2 crore shares of Zomato in two tranches in the open market, lowering down its stake in the online food aggregator to 4.4 per cent from the earlier 6.41 per cent.

Sequoia Capital India joined a list of private market investors like Delivery Hero, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Tiger Global, which have sold their shares in Zomato in the past months, either in open market or via block deals, as the online food delivery platform’s stock gets hammered.

In the same month, ride-hailing platform Uber sold its 7.8 per cent stake worth over $390 million in Zomato.

In a statement to IANS, Zomato had said, “We are a public company and are not privy to what our shareholders are doing with their shares.”

Zomato stock on Tuesday closed 1.63 per cent down at Rs 63.35.

Zomato’s consolidated net loss decreased to Rs 251 crore for the September quarter, against Rs 430 crore in net loss in the same quarter last year.

The revenue went up to Rs 1,661 crore against Rs 1,024 crore in the year-ago period, a significant 62.2 per cent jump, the company said in a statement.

“This is the first quarter where we have crossed the billion dollar annualised revenue mark (at $1.05 billion),” said Zomato.

Acquisition of Blinkit (quick commerce) closed on August 10.

“Hence, this quarter includes 50 days of Blinkit financials consolidated into our overall financials,” said the company.

Blinkit’s Gross Order Value (GOV) grew 26 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 14.82 billion while the revenue grew 44 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

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Business China

Alibaba lays off nearly 10K employees

Alibaba reported a 50 per cent drop in net income to 22.74 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) in the June quarter, down from 45.14 billion yuan in the same period last year…reports Asian Lite News

Chinese tech conglomerate Alibaba has bid goodbye to nearly 10,000 employees in an effort to cut expenses amid sluggish sales and slowing economy in the country, the media reported on Saturday.

According to South China Morning Post, more than 9,241 employees left Hangzhou-based Alibaba during the June quarter, as the company trimmed its overall headcount to 245,700.

“That put the total decrease in employee numbers for Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, to 13,616 over the six months to June, marking the firm’s first drop in payroll size since March 2016,” the report noted.

Alibaba reported a 50 per cent drop in net income to 22.74 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) in the June quarter, down from 45.14 billion yuan in the same period last year.

“The reduced payroll reflects Alibaba’s renewed efforts to cut expenses and drive up efficiency, as it faces continued regulatory pressure, sluggish consumption and a slowing economy in China, the world’s biggest e-commerce market,” the report noted.

Alibaba Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang Yong said the company will add nearly 6,000 fresh university graduates to its headcount this year.

Last month, reports surfaced that billionaire Jack Ma is planning to give up his control of Ant Group amid pressure from the government regulators.

According to a report in Wall Street Journal, the move is aimed at part of the fintech giant’s effort to move away from affiliate Alibaba Group Holding that is under immense scrutiny from the government.

Since last year, Chinese regulatory authorities have been cracking down harder on domestic tech giants like Alibaba and Ant Group to end their dominance in the internet sector.

According to the report, Ma could relinquish his control by transferring some of his voting power to other Ant officials, including Chief Executive Eric Jing.

Ma has controlled Ant since he carved its precursor assets out of Alibaba more than a decade ago.

Founded in 1999, Alibaba went through a major reshuffle when Ma passed the baton as CEO to Daniel Zhang in 2015 and further appointed him as Chairman in 2019.

ALSO READ-Data leak: Chinese authorities grill Alibaba executives

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Business

Alibaba loses $26 bn in market value on Jack Ma’s rumoured arrest

Jack Ma’s Chinese name, Ma Yun, has only two characters. (CCTV later quietly updated its original report to match Hu’s assessment)…reports Asian Lite News

Alibaba, co-founded by Chinese e-commerce giant Jack Ma, saw its Hong Kong-listed shares plunge as much as 9.4 per cent after Chinese state media reported that an individual surnamed ‘Ma’ in the city of Hangzhou — where Alibaba is based — was detained on national security grounds, media reports said.

According to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, the suspect was placed under “compulsory measures” on April 25 on suspicion of “colluding with overseas anti-China hostile forces” to “incite secession” and “incite subversion of state power”.

The one-sentence report, which was swiftly picked up by other state media outlets and alerted across Chinese news platforms, triggered panic selling in Hong Kong, erasing an estimated $26 billion from Alibaba’s market value within minutes, CNN reported.

Amid the frenzy, Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the state-owned nationalist tabloid the Global Times, rushed to clarify on China’s Twitter-like Weibo that the report was misleading because the name of the suspect in question has three characters.

Jack Ma’s Chinese name, Ma Yun, has only two characters. (CCTV later quietly updated its original report to match Hu’s assessment).

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China shifts policies to control tech giants

Together, the two services commanded over 70 per cent of the game streaming market in China…reports Asian Lite News

Alarmed at the slowing tech and internet sector, China is now planning to further shift its policies to control domestic tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent, as the country battles Covid-19 lockdowns, the media reported on Tuesday.

According to a report in Nikkei Asia citing sources, Chinese President Xi Jinping “intends to shift policies regarding its control over the country’s major tech companies such as Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings”.

“The move is apparently aimed at revitalising the internet sector and propping up the Chinese economy, which is losing momentum amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the country’s zero-Covid policy,” the report noted.

Since last year, Chinese regulatory authorities have been cracking down harder on domestic tech giants to end their dominance in the internet sector.

Last month, Tencent said it will shut down its game streaming platform Penguin Esports by June due to “changes in business strategies”.

Tencent already owns the country’s two largest game streaming platforms, Douyu and Huya.

Together, the two services commanded over 70 per cent of the game streaming market in China.

The platform faces rising competition from Bilibili, which is known for its popular user-generated video streaming service, and Kuaishou, the short video app that’s the nemesis of Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese version).

Moreover, the ongoing gaming license freeze in China has intensified competition between platforms as hosts are running out of content to talk about.

In March, Covid-19 lockdowns and China’s position on the Ukraine conflict led to tech shares rout, slashing billions of dollars from the likes of Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings in Hong Kong.

Chinese stocks in the US also suffered their biggest selloff since 2008 after US regulators identified five companies that could be subject to delisting for failing to comply with auditing requirements.

The new regulation on online food delivery platforms in China also hit the industry hard, especially the Meituan food delivery app being run by Alibaba.

The Chinese authorities announced that the food delivery platforms should further reduce the service fees charged to restaurants in order to lower the operating costs for food and beverage businesses.

In December last year, Alibaba announced a major reshuffle at the top, as the country tightened its stand against domestic Big Tech companies over data and internet regulations.

Alibaba also unveiled major reorganisation plans to boost its strategy of domestic and international e-commerce.

Founded in 1999, Alibaba went through a major reshuffle when Jack Ma passed the baton as CEO to Zhang in 2015 and further appointed him as Chairman in 2019.

China’s market regulator in November fined tech giants Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent and e-commerce platform JD.com Inc and Suning for violating the country’s anti-monopoly rules in 34 mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in which they failed to declare illegal implementation of operating concentration.

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has fined a raft of companies, especially in the internet platform sector, since the start of this year over their monopolistic behaviours.

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