SHANGHAI: Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma will step down from the Chinese firm on Tuesday.
As Ma, who turns 55 on Tuesday, holds center stage at his farewell party in the 80,000-capacity Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center stadium to the accompaniment of music and celebrity performances, attendees will be hoping to get clues on how Alibaba will be run under his heir Daniel Zhang.
China’s online retail sales grew just 17.8 percent in the first half of 2019, almost halving from the 32.4 percent growth of the prior year, according to the national statistics office.
He is leaving his hand-picked successor a daunting task of steering the $460 billion juggernauts at a time when the market for its core e-commerce business has slowed sharply.
(Agencies)
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