Jack Ma's private meeting reveals Alibaba's future direction and his judgment on the direction of China's economy
Alibaba needs to reorganize its own business story, just as the Chinese economy is not redrawing a new blueprint for development?
According to Latepost Business Report, Alibaba founder Jack Ma convened a small-scale communication meeting with executives from Taobao Group in late May. Taobao Group CEO Jessica Tan, heads of industry development Wang Hai, Liu Peng, and Liu Yiman, and Taobao Live lead Cheng Daofang attended. It is also understood that Tmall Group CFO Li Bo and Cainiao Group CEO Wan Lin also participated.
In March, Jack Ma appeared in public again after three years, acting as a teacher to discuss the future of education with the principal of Yungu College in Hangzhou. In May, he was hired as a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo. But he has been paying attention to Alibaba's business all the time.
It is understood that Jack Ma is still retired. This communication meeting did not have a clear theme. In form, the participants sat in a circle for casual conversations, more like an opportunity for Jack Ma to gain an in-depth understanding of the business.
At the meeting, Jack Ma made some of his own judgments and encouraged executives in spirit to free their minds and innovate boldly. According to many Alibaba employees, Jack Ma believes that Taobao Group currently faces extremely severe competitive situation. He cites Nokia and Kodak as examples, believing that it takes only six months to a year for an industry leader to die, and this speed may be even faster in the Internet industry.
According to estimates, Pinduoduo and Douyin e-commerce's total order GMV (total sales) in 2022 has exceeded 50% of Alibaba's domestic e-commerce business. On the revenue side, in the first three months of 2023, Pinduoduo's revenue reached 62% of Alibaba's domestic e-commerce business.
At the meeting, Jack Ma said Alibaba's old methodologies for success may no longer apply and should be changed quickly. He pointed out three directions for Tmall Group:
Return to Taobao, return to users, return to the Internet.
In addition, Jack Ma believes Tmall Group should further flatten its organization. Many employees expect that after "June 18", the group will usher in reforms of many management systems.
Within 24 hours of the disclosure of the meeting content, Alibaba's former CEO Zhang Yong issued an internal letter stating that he would no longer serve as group CEO and would focus on the development and IPO plans of Alibaba Cloud. Alibaba co-founder Tsai Chongxin and Wu Yongming took over as chairman and CEO of the group respectively.
This document has stirred up a huge wave of public opinion in China's Internet circle. Countless people are curious about the motives behind this and how Alibaba's future will be. Reviewing Jack Ma's closed-door meeting, we may be able to get a glimpse.
Next is Taobao's opportunity
In 2015, Zhang Yong became CEO of Alibaba. At that time, he saw good prospects for China's consumption upgrade and had Taobao divert a lot of traffic to Tmall to support the rise of brand merchants. Alibaba thus obtained more commercial revenue. *Until 2022, Tmall will have 70% of revenue from brand merchants.
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