Behind Ma Yun and Liu Qiangdong's "inability to sit still": Why is there a huge change? Why is this moment? Group | Alibaba | Jack Ma

On the evening of September 10, 2019, at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center in Zhejiang Province, Alibaba held its 20th anniversary annual meeting. On that day, Jack Ma, who had stepped down as Chairman of the Alibaba Group and returned to his position as "Teacher Ma", sat in the front row of the audience. His left side was his successor Zhang Yong, and his right side was Cai Chongxin, who had accompanied Alibaba for 20 years.

On September 10th, four years later, Jack Ma will switch sides - Cai Chongxin will replace Zhang Yong as the chairman of the Alibaba Group's board of directors.

Before and after Cai Chongxin's "Outbreak"

The outside world describes Cai Chongxin's takeover as "coming out of the mountains". In fact, since stepping down as the head of Alibaba's battle investment in 2019, Cai Chongxin has gradually moved away from Alibaba's core business. He is more familiar to the outside world as the owner of the NBA Brooklyn Nets.

According to public reports, Cai Chongxin served as the CFO of Alibaba from its establishment in 1999 to 2013; In 2014, he led Alibaba to go public in New York and was responsible for investment work until 2019.

There are traces of Cai Chongxin taking over. Although far from Alibaba's core business, Cai Chongxin has always held positions at Alibaba. He is not only one of the founders of Alibaba, but has also been a member of the board of directors. In addition, Cai Chongxin has long served as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alibaba Group and a member of the Alibaba Investment Committee. After Alibaba's "1+6+N" organizational change in March, Cai Chongxin was appointed as the Chairman of Cainiao Group and a Director of Taotian Group.

The "1+6+N" transformation refers to the establishment of six major business groups and multiple business companies under the Alibaba Group, including Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, Taobao Tmall Business, Local Life, International Digital Business, Cainiao, and Da Wen Yu.

After the "1+6+N" transformation, Alibaba Group has transformed into a holding group, no longer directly managing the daily operations of its business departments. According to Alibaba's official statement, the holding group will mainly do three things in the future: first, to support and coordinate the development of various business groups; second, to become a discoverer and promoter of new technologies; and third, to become a headquarters for innovative business incubation.

It can be seen that compared to the future center of "6+N", the role of the holding group will gradually fade, shifting from "managing specific business" to "managing future innovation". Choosing Cai Chongxin as the successor, Alibaba values his investment experience and globalization background, and more importantly, he understands Alibaba very well.

After Cai Chongxin took office, there are currently several clear points about his work.

After the "1+6+N" transformation, Alibaba Cloud, Cainiao, Hema, and others in "6" and "N" have launched their listing plans. Some analysts believe that Cai Chongxin is skilled in capital operations and can play a key role in promoting the listing of various Alibaba businesses.

In addition, in the official evaluation provided by Alibaba, there is a thought-provoking sentence: "Cai Chongxin's globalization experience and insights into the macro environment are strong support for Alibaba to further promote internationalization.". As a future growth point, under the leadership of Cai Chongxin, the direction for Alibaba to accelerate its overseas expansion and globalization is determined.

Teacher Ma did not put down his teaching whip

Alibaba's recent major changes have been accompanied by the elusive figure of Jack Ma.

On March 27th, the media revealed that Jack Ma had returned to his home country. On that day, Jack Ma appeared at Yungu School in Hangzhou and discussed with the campus leaders the challenges and opportunities brought by the new generation of technological changes to education.

The next day, Zhang Yong launched Alibaba's "1+6+N" organizational transformation, with an important message that "business groups and companies that meet the conditions will have the possibility of independent financing and listing.". This change is known as the most important organizational change for Alibaba in 24 years.

An important change is that several partners who have faded out of Alibaba's frontline business in recent years have re entered the list of subsidiary group boards, which is quite reminiscent of a veteran killing a shot in the arm.

Wu Yongming, who took over as CEO of Zhang Yong Group this time, became the Chairman of Taotian Group after the "1+6+N" transformation, and served as a director at Alibaba International Digital Business Group and Alibaba Local Life Group. In fact, since 2014, Wu Yongming has moved away from the frontline of Alibaba's business and invested more energy in Yuanjing Capital, which was founded in 2015.

In addition, Wu Yongming was also one of Jack Ma's earliest comrades in arms. He joined Ma Yun's "China Yellow Pages" in 1996 and became a member of the "Eighteen Arhat" three years later.

On May 18th, Alibaba announced that Cloud Intelligence Group would be completely spun off from Alibaba Group and move towards listing. Cainiao and Hema launched their listing plans, Alibaba International Digital Business Group launched external financing, and the six major business groups officially established their boards of directors.

And in those days, China News Service learned from an Alibaba insider that Jack Ma participated in an internal communication meeting of Taotian Group. Ma Yun pointed out three directions: return to Taobao, return to users and return to the Internet. He believes that the next opportunity is for Taobao rather than Tmall, and Alibaba e-commerce should "return to Taobao.". He also stated that the methodologies that Alibaba relied on for success in the past may no longer be applicable and should be quickly changed.

On June 20th, Alibaba announced that after Zhang Yong stepped down, Cai Chongxin would replace him as the Chairman of Alibaba's Board of Directors. On June 17th, before the announcement, Jack Ma appeared at the final of the Hangzhou Alibaba Mathematics Competition.

The change in Zhang Yong's position has also attracted market attention, as has the news of his successor. Zhang Yong, who does not serve as the Chairman and CEO of the Group's Board of Directors, will serve full-time as the Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group, focusing on the development of Alibaba Cloud.

According to China News Service, on the afternoon of the 20th, Jack Ma and Zhang Yong appeared together in Alibaba Cloud Park. The two of them took a walk and chatted with each other, while Jack Ma occasionally greeted the crowd.

Every appearance of Jack Ma is accompanied by changes in Alibaba, and more and more of his old comrades and members of Alibaba's founding team play important roles. Further observation is needed to determine what chemical reactions will occur. But some employees of Taotian Group said in an interview with LatePost that they can already feel Jack Ma exerting his influence in specific businesses, such as frequently emphasizing the importance of small and medium-sized businesses internally and emphasizing the need for Alibaba e-commerce to return to the original Taobao ecosystem.

Return is also the starting point

Behind Alibaba's series of organizational changes is a change in the external market environment and competitive landscape. Currently, the mode of e-commerce has changed, users have changed, major platforms are crazily entering each other's hinterland, and competition is becoming more intense. It can be said that in the e-commerce field, Alibaba has a strong sense of crisis. On the other hand, Taobao Group is the main source of Alibaba's profits, and whether Taobao and Tmall can continue to grow in the future determines whether Alibaba's value can be enhanced.

With the return of the big shots, accompanied by organizational changes and changes in tactics, JD.com and Alibaba are in sync.

According to media reports, in 2022, JD founder Liu Qiangdong, who had not appeared for a long time but had absolute say internally, convened a nearly four hour management training meeting for all executives. At the meeting, there were three main actions taken by Liu Qiangdong: firstly, he criticized some executives for using PPTs to deceive himself; Secondly, point out the executives who speak the truth in their hearts; Thirdly, recall the early stories of entrepreneurship and highlight the key role of low price and efficiency.

Half a year later, on May 11, 2023, there was a huge change in the organization of JD.com. Xu Lei, who had just served as CEO of JD.com for a year, stepped down and retired. Xu Ran, the CFO of JD.com, took over Xu Lei's position.

This adjustment was not without signals beforehand. In March, JD.com launched a comprehensive subsidy of 10 billion yuan, restarting the battle mode with low prices. In Xu Lei's strategy, low price is not the most important, quality is the key.

June 18th this year marks the 20th anniversary of JD's official establishment. In the all staff letter released on the same day, JD.com proposed the "35711" dream and stated that "combat" is the only way to achieve the "35711" dream. "Every JD person still wants to fight, fight, only be the first!" In this letter, the term "battle" appears 5 times.

Interestingly, on the day of JD 618, Liu Qiangdong, who did not appear at the venue, was exposed to have appeared at the headquarters of JD Group, using a special way to transmit signals to the outside world.

In fact, whether it is Jack Ma's "return to Taobao" or Liu Qiangdong's low-priced strategy, they feel the same dangerous signal - the story of consumer upgrading is not easy to tell in the past. Traditional e-commerce must undergo self revolution, restart, and embrace a new round of competition.