After 2 decades of spearheading and shaping Alibaba into China’s leading e-commerce enterprise, Jack Ma finally “hangs his wings” and retired as the executive chairman of Alibaba!
This also means Ma has officially and effectively handing the reins over to his successor Daniel Zhang, who has been the CEO of Alibaba since 2015.
It was indeed a “killing three birds with one stone” situation, on top of his retirement, the grand celebration is also to coincide with Ma’s 55th birthday and Alibaba’s 20th anniversary!
In his final speech, Ma addressed a couple of stuff, which includes telling his employees that the celebration was not about his retirement but rather “the beginning of a legacy of succession.”
View this post on Instagram
The celebration was held at the Olympic stadium in Hangzhou, the Eastern city where the company’s headquarter is situated.
The stadium was packed to the brim with 60,000 employees! Activities such as parade by the staff members in costumes, music and skits on stage! But not just that, they even have a spectacular fireworks performance!
That’s not even the best part!
Jack Ma also presented each of his employees with a bottle of wine in a box. Not just any wine box, but a high tech one with final words of wisdom from Ma himself!
Here’s the translation of what he says in the video:
“This 20th anniversary, I present to you a bottle of wine. As I was learning about wine, I came about this theory. Work is like water, life is like wine. Water will decide the quality of the wine. We must live our lives like a wine and not like water, for it is tasteless. I wish everyone the very best in life, happy working, and may happiness be in your hands.”
Jack Ma even performed during his farewell party!
View this post on Instagram
Highlights from Alibaba’s 20th anniversary party in Hangzhou. 🎂🎂 Link in bio 👆
Spotted in a sporting, orange guitar, bejeweled sunglasses, and spiked shoulder pads, Ma sang “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban, and pass it halfway through to Mr. Zhang, who finished the song on the main stage by himself!
A scene that brought people to tears!
Each employee, including the interns, left the stadium with a gift from the former chairman and within hours, this special courtesy had swept through the social media.
So what do you think about this exclusive retirement? Leave the comment below!
Header image source: Alibaba
