Jack Ma urges Alibaba to ‘correct course’ in rare internal memo

Ma, who has mostly stayed away from day-to-day operations since 2020, stunned employees on Nov 29 by replying to a staff post on Alibaba’s internal forum. — Reuters

Jack Ma urged Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to correct course in a surprise internal memo, in which the billionaire called for fundamental change across the company he co-founded decades ago.

Ma, who has mostly stayed away from day-to-day operations since 2020, stunned employees on Nov 29 by replying to a staff post on Alibaba’s internal forum. In his brief message, the entrepreneur praised decisions taken in recent years by rival PDD Holdings Inc to wrest market share from China’s ecommerce leader. But Ma was convinced Alibaba will change and “correct its course”, he said in a post confirmed by people familiar with the forum.