NEWS CENTER

Jack Ma, founder and chairman of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, announced that he will quit his chairmanship a year later through a Monday post on his personal social network, thepaper.cn reported.

CEO Daniel Zhang will take over the chairmanship since September 10, 2019 just at the 20th-anniversary mark for Alibaba, said Ma in a letter to all teachers today on China’s National Holiday, Teachers Day on Weibo.

He’ll still keep his job as a board member until the 2020 annual stockholders’ meeting, and he will provide a transition plan for Alibaba, said the billionaire.

It’s said that Jack Ma has intended to make this decision for a decade. After quitting the chairmanship, he will devote more time and money to the philanthropic foundation, education and his environmental protection cause, he told South China Morning Post last Saturday.

September 10 marks not only China’s Teachers’ Day as well as the 19th anniversary of Alibaba and the 54th birthday of Jack Ma, who was once an English teacher before starting the e-commerce business.

The successor Zhang, an 11-year veteran at Alibaba Group, was appointed CEO in May 2015. Over the years, he has assisted with top management positions across the organization and led the company to build Cainiao Network, a comprehensive global logistics network.