Alibaba

[Wildreamz]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/russellflan...01968155f4
Jack Ma Not Retiring, Staying As Chairman
Russell Flannery Forbes Staff Sep 8, 2018, 10:13am

[Behappyalways]

刘强东早前内部讲话视频曝光，大谈马云骗局：出去我自己都觉得替马云感到丢人，这就是骗子，骗人嘛！
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iANOSneQN2k

[cyclone]

Meet Daniel Zhang, the ‘free and unfettered spirit’ who will succeed Jack Ma as Alibaba’s chairman
The succession plan comes as Ma, who co-founded Alibaba together with 17 others and has for years been the face of the company, looks to distance himself from daily operations

Zen Soo
PUBLISHED : Monday, 10 September, 2018, 9:28am
UPDATED : Monday, 10 September, 2018, 6:10pm

Among the 86,000 employees who work at Alibaba Group Holding, chief executive Daniel Zhang is not known as Daniel, or Mr. Zhang, or even boss.

Instead, employees refer to him as xiaoyaozi, or the “free and unfettered one.” The nom de guerre, after a character from a Louis Cha wuxia novel, has appeared on his business card, Chinese company press statements and in Alibaba’s literature.

Zhang will soon have larger shoes to fill. On Monday, Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma announced a succession plan for the company, with a transition period of one year, at the end of which Ma will step down from his role and hand the reins over to Zhang.

Since Zhang, known as Zhang Yong in mainland China, was named chief executive in May 2015, “Alibaba has seen consistent and sustainable growth for 13 consecutive quarters,” Ma said in a letter to staff, including the South China Morning Post, which is owned by the Hangzhou-based company. “His analytical mind is unparalleled, he holds dear our mission and vision, he embraces responsibility with passion, and he has the guts to innovate and test creative business models.”

The succession plan comes as Ma, who co-founded Alibaba together with 17 others and has for years been the face of the company, looks to distance himself from company operations as he shifts focus to teaching, education and philanthropy. Ma will remain the executive chairman for the next 12 months to ensure a smooth and orderly transition.

“To have a good succession plan is the litmus test of business continuity,” said associate professor Lawrence Loh, director of the Centre for Governance, Institutions & Organisations at the National University of Singapore. “Naming Daniel Zhang as the successor with a specific time frame, as well as Jack Ma staying on the board until 2020, gives a lot of certainty and assurance to not only the business community but also its investors.”

“I’ve worked closely with Daniel since 2007 when he first joined us as chief financial officer of Taobao,” said Joseph Tsai, Alibaba’s executive vice-chairman who was the company’s finance chief until 2013. “On intellect and energy, I can barely keep up with him. But it’s his thoughtfulness and humility that is most impressive as a leader.”

Zhang, 46, had previously served as Taobao’s chief financial officer, president of Tmall.com and as Alibaba’s chief operating officer before succeeding Jonathan Lu as chief executive.

More details in https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/artic...ed-jack-ma

[Behappyalways]

Taobao didn’t remove pirated work based off Taiwanese artist, but did so after someone purposely said she is ‘pro-independence’
https://mothership.sg/2018/09/taiwan-art...ce-taobao/

[cyclone]

Alibaba files to list in Hong Kong as soon as third quarter: source

Julie Zhu
JUNE 13, 2019 / 1:49 PM

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has filed confidentially for a Hong Kong listing that will take place as soon as the third quarter of this year, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The listing could raise as much as $20 billion, sources said last month, smaller than its record $25 billion float in New York five years ago.

At that time, founder Jack Ma expressed a desire to list in the Hong Kong but the tech firm’s management structure clashed with bourse rules. The stock exchange there has since changed its listing rules, primarily to attract China’s tech startups.

The latest deal would be the biggest follow-on share sale globally in seven years and give Alibaba ample funds for technology investment - a priority for China as economic growth flags and a trade spat with the United States intensifies.

Alibaba declined to comment on the deal when contacted by Reuters. The person with knowledge of the matter was not authorized to speak with media and so declined to be identified. News of the filing was first reported by Bloomberg.

Investment banks China International Capital Corp Ltd and Credit Suisse Group AG are leading the deal. The banks did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. No other banks have been formally mandated as yet.

The filing comes amid growing political unrest in Hong Kong this week that raised concerns over the potential impact on the city’s financial market and businesses.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the southern Chinese territory this week over a planned extradition agreement with mainland China.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-aliba...SKCN1TE0M2

[cyclone]

Alibaba seeks one-to-eight stock split as the first step toward a secondary listing that may raise as much as US$20 billion
* Alibaba will split its ordinary shares in a one-to-eight subdivision
* One ordinary share with a par value of US$0.000025 will be subdivided into eight ordinary shares with a par value of US$0.000003125, increasing the number of ordinary shares from 4 billion to 32 billion

Louise Moon  
Published: 10:13am, 17 Jun, 2019

Alibaba Group Holding, operator of the world’s largest e-commerce platform, has applied to split its ordinary shares, part of a move to increase the flexibility of its capital raising activities, including the issuing of new shares.

The New York-listed Chinese e-commerce giant is proposing to split each of its ordinary shares into eight, according to a statement on its website. Under the changes, one American Depositary Share (ADS), which currently represents one ordinary share, will represent eight ordinary shares. Voting rights of shareholders will remain the same.

“The board of directors is proposing the share subdivision to increase the flexibility for the company in future capital market activities,” said the company, which owns South China Morning Post, in its statement. “Among other reasons, the one-to-eight share subdivision will increase the number of shares available for issuance at a lower per-share price, and the board of directors believes that this will increase flexibility in the company’s capital raising activities, including the issuance of new shares.”

The move comes after Bloomberg reported that Alibaba has appointed China International Capital Corporation and Credit Suisse Group to lead a secondary listing in Hong Kong, which could raise as much as US$20 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The Hangzhou-based company has reiterated that it does not comment on market rumours, while the Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited (HKEX), the operator of Asia’s second-largest capital market, declined to comment.

As of June 7, Alibaba had 4 billion ordinary shares valued at US$0.000025 each, forming a US$100,000 share capital. The share split would raise the number of shares to 32 billion at a par value of US$0.000003125 each. The company’s shareholders will vote for the changes at the annual general meeting on July 15 in Hong Kong. If approved, the change has a year to come into effect.

More details in https://www.scmp.com/business/investor-r...lexibility

[specuvestor]

Altaba has sold 83.7m shares (~$13bn) since starting its on market sell down of BABA on May 20th. The maximum amount of shares Altaba could sell ahead of the 27 Jun shareholder meeting is 141.5m shares. Altaba still owns 199.7m shares of Alibaba, $32bn or 7.6%.

[cyclone]

China's Alibaba aims to double Tmall Global brands with English portal

Reporting by Brenda Goh, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and David Evans
JUNE 26, 2019 / 4:16 PM

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Wednesday launched an English-language website for its Tmall Global marketplace aimed at merchants, in an attempt to double the number of international brands on the platform to 40,000 in the next three years.

The company said in a statement it wants to make Tmall Global, which currently hosts 20,000 international brands across 77 countries and regions, more appealing and accessible to niche, small- and medium-sized brands from other countries.

The new portal comes as Alibaba is facing lean e-commerce revenue growth, which has been further threatened by the ongoing U.S.-China trade spat, and increased competition from rivals such as recently listed Pinduoduo Inc

“We believe the launch of this English-language website will expedite the process for brands and merchants to introduce their products to Chinese consumers,” said Yi Qian, deputy general manager, Tmall Global.

Initially, interested brands were able to get in touch with Alibaba mainly through trade shows, personal introductions, or its Chinese-language website, the company said.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-aliba...TR0Z8?il=0

[cyclone]

Alibaba shareholders approve one-to-eight stock split, which could ease potential Hong Kong secondary listing
* Share split would give Alibaba greater flexibility for raising capital
* E-commerce company reportedly considering US$20 billion secondary offering in Hong Kong

Chad Bray  
Published: 4:56am, 16 Jul, 2019

Alibaba Group Holding’s shareholders overwhelmingly approved a 1-to-8 split of the company’s US-listed stock, a move the company has said would give it greater flexibility for raising capital, including issuing new shares, according to a US securities filing late on Monday.

The approval comes as the company is reportedly considering a secondary listing of its shares in Hong Kong.

Bloomberg previously reported that Alibaba, the operator of the world’s largest e-commerce platform, is considering raising as much as US$20 billion in the offering.

In addition to increasing the company’s flexibility for future capital-raising activities, the split would increase the number of shares available for issuance at a lower per-share price. Alibaba’s American Depositary Shares (ADS) closed on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange at US$173.50, up 2.6 per cent .

Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

The announcement followed Alibaba’s annual general meeting in Hong Kong on Monday.

Under the changes, one ADS, which currently represents one ordinary share, will represent eight ordinary shares. Voting rights of shareholders will remain the same.

The company said that the share split would not result in a gain or loss or realisation of taxable income to shareholders under US tax law.

Shareholders also approved the re-election of Daniel Zhang Yong, Alibaba’s chief executive, and three other directors to the company’s board.

The other directors who were re-elected are: Tung Chee-hwa, vice-chairman of the Thirteenth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the first chief executive of Hong Kong from 1997 to 2005; Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo Inc; and Wan Ling Martello, the former chief executive for Asia, Oceania and Subsaharan Africa for Nestle. Shareholders also ratified the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2020.

More details in https://www.scmp.com/business/investor-r...tock-split

[cyclone]

Alibaba unveils its first A.I. chip as China pushes for its own semiconductor technology
* Alibaba unveiled its first chip to power artificial intelligence (AI) processes called the Hanguang 800.
* It can cut down computing tasks that would take an hour down to five minutes, the e-commerce giant claims.
* Huawei has also unveiled its own AI chips highlighting how China’s technology giants are pushing the country’s homegrown semiconductor industry.

Arjun Kharpal
PUBLISHED 25 September 2019

Alibaba unveiled its first chip to power artificial intelligence (AI) processes on Tuesday. The move could boost its already fast-growing cloud computing business and signals China’s growing ambitions in developing its own homegrown semiconductor industry.

The chip, called the Hanguang 800, can cut down computing tasks that would have usually taken an hour, down to just five minutes, the e-commerce giant claims.

Alibaba said that the chip is currently being used internally within the company’s business operations, especially in product search and automatic translation on e-commerce sites, personalized recommendations, advertising, and “intelligent customer services.” These are areas that require extensive computing tasks and the chip can help speed things up.

“In the near future, we plan to empower our clients by providing access through our cloud business to the advanced computing that is made possible by the chip, anytime and anywhere,” Jeff Zhang, Alibaba’s chief technology officer, said in a press release.

Growing computing business

An Alibaba spokesperson told CNBC that the company has no plans to sell the chip as a standalone product. Instead, the company is planning to use the chip in its cloud computing products.

Employing the chip in its own cloud computing business could allow Alibaba to sell new cloud services to its customers. The cloud business is Alibaba’s fastest-growing division and has been flagged by management as a critical area for the future.

The Chinese e-commerce titan is the biggest cloud player by market share in the mainland, and within the top five in the world.

Still, the company trails market leader Amazon by a long way. Alibaba will be hoping new innovations like its AI chips can help attract more customers.

Alibaba’s move into AI chips follows Huawei which last month unveiled its own AI semiconductor called the Ascend 910, aimed at being used in data centers. Companies using AI applications require huge amounts of data to train smart algorithms, and that can take several days or weeks. Huawei claims its chip is the “world’s most powerful AI processor.”

More details https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/25/alibaba-...g-800.html