Teacher Ma's New Course.

choi

Louise Lucas, Teacher Ma's New Course. Jack Ma shocked investors with his decision to stand down as chairman from the company he turned into a leader in ecommerce. But he is still likely to pull the strings through his role in its executive structure. Financial Times, Sept 15, 2018, at page 8.

Quote:

"few believe Mr Ma, who remains a lifetime member of Alibaba's powerful 36-member partnership, will not continue pulling the strings of the nearly $430bn company [market capitalisation].  'Jack is Jack and he's always going to have influence at Alibaba, regardless of his title,' says one banker who has worked with him. 'I don't think that [his stepping down] will have much of a change on the company.' " (brackets original)

"Mr Ma, along with executive vice-chairman Joe Tsai, is a lifetime member of the partnership * * * Being a lifetime member, says former banker and corporate governance activist David Webb, is akin to Chinese president Xi Jinping abolishing two-term leadership. 'The partnership is like the politburo and the partnership committee is like the standing committee of politburo,' he says.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest.