Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma, who helped
launch China’s online retailing boom, stepped
down as chairman of the world’s biggest
e-commerce company Tuesday at a time when
its fast-changing industry faces uncertainty
amid a U.S.-Chinese tariff war.
Ma, one of China’s wealthiest and best-known
entrepreneurs, gave up his post on his 55th
birthday as part of a succession announced
a year ago. He will stay on as a member of
the Alibaba Partnership, a 36-member group
with the right to nominate a majority of the
company’s board of directors.
Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba
in 1999 to connect Chinese exporters to
American retailers.
The company has shifted focus to serving
China’s growing consumer market and
expanded into online banking, entertainment
and cloud computing. Domestic businesses
accounted for 66% of its $16.7 billion in revenue
in the quarter ending in June.
Chinese retailing faces uncertainty amid a tariff
war that has raised the cost of U.S. imports.
Growth in online sales decelerated to 17.8% in the
first half of 2019 amid slowing Chinese economic
growth, down from 2018’s full-year rate of 23.9%.Image: Juan Mabromata