In recent years, Alibaba has never lacked dramatic and significant high-level changes, such as the departure of founding veterans like Sun Tongyu, the removal of Wei Zhe, and the internal ups and downs of Shao Xiaofeng, former head of Alipay. But this time, it’s Jack Ma’s turn.
On January 15, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, announced that he would step down as Group CEO on May 10, 2013, after which he would only serve as Chairman of the Board, focusing mainly on strategic decision-making and other non-executive tasks.
Who will replace Ma as CEO has thus become the focus of external attention.
Alibaba Group Chief Data Officer (CDO) Lu Zhaoxi
Among external speculations, Lu Zhaoxi, Chief Data Officer (CDO) of Alibaba Group, is considered a strong candidate.
At 42 years old, Lu joined Alibaba Group in 1999 and has since held positions including Head of Alibaba’s South China Region, Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Alipay, General Manager of Taobao, and Chief Data Officer. After this year’s structural adjustment, he oversees three major business units: Data Platform, Information Platform, and Cloud OS.
Before this, the IT giant had been a struggling student, a hotel attendant, and an aspiring entrepreneur... A graduate of Guangzhou University, he has quite a connection to the hotel industry.
From Hotel Waiter to IT Giant
In 1988, Lu Zhaoxi was admitted to Guangzhou University to study Hotel Management. After graduation, he was assigned to a four-star hotel in Guangzhou, starting his first job as a hotel waiter. His shifts were from 7 AM to 11 PM, involving physical tasks like carrying trays and wiping tables.
“After graduating from university and working as a waiter in a hotel, I didn’t always feel great about it. But then I thought, life always has its ups and downs, and such fluctuations are inevitable. It’s not a bad thing to endure some hardships when you’re young—they’ll pass if you push through.” With such self-motivation, Lu worked his way up from waiter to lobby manager, housekeeping manager, and restaurant manager.
In 1997, Guangzhou, with its prime location, took an early lead as the network communications market began to emerge. Lu spotted the opportunity, resolutely quit his hotel job, and co-founded a network communications company with a few friends, mainly operating long-distance internet phone services. Thanks to the industry’s high profits, the company initially did quite well, but the telecom sector is a high-investment, high-risk industry, and a small private firm could hardly achieve greater growth. So, after two years, Lu made a rational decision to exit after careful consideration.
It was then that a friend working at Alibaba strongly recommended Lu to join the company. And so, Lu naturally became part of Alibaba.
Lu said he is grateful for his past experience as a hotel waiter, as well as for running his own company in the Pearl River Delta region—experiences that taught him a crucial lesson: “Service is the key to success or failure.”
What are Lu Zhaoxi’s chances?
It seems that the ideal successor in Jack Ma’s mind is not one person, but several. In any case, there will be a “CEO” on May 10—who will it be?
Peng Lei is the Top Contender
Let’s take a look at the current hottest candidates. The most talked-about and likely candidates are Lu Zhaoxi, Chief Data Officer of Alibaba Group, and Peng Lei, Chief People Officer of Alibaba Group.
Peng Lei’s advantage lies in being one of the 18 founders of Alibaba Group; as a woman, she complements her male counterparts; as a member of the post-70s generation, she can better bridge the leadership of the post-60s and post-80s generations. In terms of business, Peng has served as Vice President of Human Resources, Marketing, and Services at Alibaba, and currently holds the roles of Chief People Officer of Alibaba Group and CEO of Alipay.
China Entrepreneur magazine once wrote: Within Alibaba Group, she wields influence second only to Jack Ma in core departments such as group affairs, administration, marketing, and human resources. She is the quintessential “Number Two” in Chinese companies, the most resolute executor of Jack Ma’s strategic decisions, as well as the architect and guardian of Alibaba’s corporate culture.
Internal speculation at Alibaba also centers on Peng Lei. “Lucy (Peng Lei) has always had significant influence and is approachable. In the past year or two, things like year-end bonuses and personnel changes have all been communicated via emails from Lucy,” said an insider.
Xie Wen, a veteran internet commentator, believes that although Jack Ma will step down, he will still hold the reins of power at Alibaba. Based on experience, Lu Zhaoxi, Chief Data Officer of Alibaba Group, may become the new leader of Alibaba.
“The new CEO should have experience across multiple major businesses to manage the overall situation. I guess Lu Zhaoxi has a better chance,” Xie Wen speculated. He stated that according to Jack Ma’s criteria for selecting a new CEO, “more than ten years of frontline work experience,” “being relatively young,” and “having a good understanding of Alibaba’s culture” will all be basic standards for evaluating the new CEO.
Could Lu Zhaoxi Be Passed Over?
Although Lu Zhaoxi and Peng Lei are the most talked-about, some believe the chances for both are slim.
Let’s look at an interview with Jack Ma in Esquire. He mentioned, “I asked them: ‘Bro, can you be the next CEO?’ No no, I’m quite comfortable doing what I’m doing. None of us are into that. That’s also a damn big problem.”
Also in the aforementioned interview, Jack Ma ruled out the possibility of Lu Zhaoxi and Sun Tongyu becoming the next CEO. Lu Zhaoxi “is very practical, but not strong enough in vision... Everyone has their own era. Each era calls for a different type of person. When it’s time for vision, Old Lu just lacks that spark. Then he’ll need to work on that.” As for Sun Tongyu, “If he could replace me, I would have... let go long ago.”
Therefore, if Lu Zhaoxi is passed over this round and focuses on vision, he might become the leader of the third wave of data initiatives. This shows that the widely discussed potential successors Lu Zhaoxi and Sun Tongyu seem less likely after all.
Another top candidate, Peng Lei, who heads the finance division and is responsible for Alipay, is highly capable and well-regarded. However, many practical factors may make her appointment as CEO in this round of adjustments uncertain. It is understood that this round of overall listing that Alibaba is pushing for this year does not include Alipay, which has also maintained relatively independent operations from Alibaba’s various systems to date. Therefore, unless under special circumstances and with no better alternatives, having Peng Lei, CEO of Alipay, take over as Group CEO would have too great an impact on both the group and Alipay. These conflicts and dilemmas will test Jack Ma.
Could Wu Yongming be the dark horse?
Therefore, some media outlets have analyzed comprehensively and concluded that younger candidates such as Wu Yongming, who were previously not highly regarded, might actually be the most likely to be "convinced" to take on the CEO role.
First, Wu Yongming meets the criteria. Born around 1975, though young, he was involved in founding Taobao, Alipay, Alibaba Mom and Etao, making him one of the original “Eighteen Founders” of Alibaba. Internally, he is also known as “Mama Wu.”
Second, Jack Ma singled out Wu Yongming for praise in Esquire: “I think today, people like Wu Yongming, Sanfeng, Wang Shuai, and Zhang Yong are becoming more and more mature.” “Look at it this way: if we dissolved Taobao today, Taobao would actually grow even faster and develop more comfortably. We’ve seen talents like Sanfeng, Zhang Yong, and Wu Yongming emerge from the company like mushrooms after the rain.”
Although Jack Ma described Wu Yongming as a post-rain mushroom, in reality, as one of the 18 founders of Alibaba, Wu has been following Jack Ma since 1996, went to Beijing with him in 1997, and was solely responsible for the technical development of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation’s website. In 1999, he returned to Hangzhou with Jack Ma to co-found Alibaba. His qualifications and experience are extensive, making him even more aligned with the goal of passing the baton to those born in the 1970s and 1980s.
However, whether it’s Wu Yongming or Jiang Peng, neither has yet achieved particularly outstanding results that can win widespread support internally or externally, so taking on such a significant responsibility still carries some uncertainty.
But now it seems the initiative may not lie with Jack Ma—it’s more like Jack Ma is being pushed into action. Looking at Alibaba’s current situation, there might be coordination issues among senior executives, but if Jack Ma serves as the chairman of the board while seasoned veterans support a young leader, it’s a more stable succession plan. Whether stepping up voluntarily or by necessity, Wu Yongming has better odds and could very well emerge as a dark horse.
Additionally, Zhang Yong and Zeng Ming should not be overlooked. In 2007, Zhang Yong, former CFO of Shanda Networks, joined Taobao as Vice President and CFO. In June 2011, he became CEO of Taobao Mall. Following this year’s structural adjustments, he has oversight over the Tmall division, logistics division (SkyNet), Liangwuxian division, and travel division, demonstrating Jack Ma’s trust in Zhang Yong. Zeng Ming, currently serving as Alibaba Group’s Chief Strategy Officer, is responsible for the overall strategic planning of the Alibaba Group.