Ma Yuns past: poaching Zhang Yong and apologizing at Chen Tianqiaos family

Source: Sina Technology Author: Song Xing

This Monday, Ma Yun announced the successor plan of Ali. On September 10, 2019, he will no longer serve as the chairman of the board of directors of the group, and the current group CEO Zhang Yong will take over at that time.This news not only detonated the Chinese Internet circle, but also foreign media rushed to report and dug up some interesting stories.

Ma Yun invited Zhang Yong from Shanda Interactive Entertainment in 2007.However, since Shanda's founder, Chen Tianqiao, is an old friend of Ma Yun and an outstanding entrepreneur, Ma Yun handled the matter with caution.At that time, Jack Ma went to Chen Tianqiao's house for dinner and apologized face to face for poaching Zhang Yong.

Chen Tianqiao said in an interview on Monday that at the time, Alibaba was a small private company, and that job-hopping showed that Zhang Yong was also a visionary.

Before joining Alibaba Group, Zhang Yong served as the chief financial officer of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Co., Ltd., an online game developer and operator listed on NASDAQ at the time.Previously, Zhang Yong worked as a senior manager in the audit and corporate consulting department of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Shanghai.

Zhang Yong holds a bachelor's degree in finance from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Jack Ma has said he doesn't like professional managers because they focus on short-term performance.He believes that a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) can't do a good job as a CEO (Chief Executive Officer).

But Zhang Yong may be an exception. Jack Ma praised Zhang Yong in his open letter on Monday.

Ma Yun said that since Zhang Yong became the CEO of Alibaba Group, he has demonstrated outstanding business talent and firm and calm leadership, achieving healthy and sustained growth in Alibaba's performance for 13 consecutive quarters.He has supercomputer-like logic and thinking ability, firmly believes in the mission and vision, has the courage to take responsibility, devotes himself wholeheartedly, and dares to stand in the future and innovate and design new business models and formats.