Alibaba Group co-founder and executive chairman Jack Ma attends the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, Sept 17, 2018.SHANGHAI — Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has penned a lengthy memo to employees that expresses support for the internet giant's restructuring efforts, a rare move from the billionaire after spending the last few years out of the spotlight.
In the post, which was roughly a page long, Ma praised the leadership of CEO Eddie Wu and Chairman Joe Tsai and said the split into six divisions had helped streamline decision-making, making Alibaba more agile and customer-focused.
The post was the longest made by Ma, who owns roughly four per cent of Alibaba, on the company's intranet in five years. Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the post. Alibaba's shares have declined 27 per cent in the past 12 months, giving it a market capitalisation of some US$178 billion . Rival PDD, which briefly overtook Alibaba in terms of market value last December, is not far behind with US$160 billion.