Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group, has been frequently purged by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities, and the reasons behind this have led to various speculations. It is widely believed that Ma’s close ties with powerful families such as Jiang Zemin’s have led to his involvement in high-level power struggles in the Communist Party. Yesterday (March 11), U.S. media quoted sources as revealing another reason for Ma’s involvement, saying that he was in trouble for emulating Mao Zedong.
The Wall Street Journal article cited CCP regulators and Alibaba employees as saying that Ma, a loyal reader of Mao, would imitate him in his self-packaging and personal charisma, but over Time, this practice has become a negative asset to his business.
Ma’s imitation of Mao has been reported in the media before. In a 2013 article titled “Following Mao’s example, Ma builds Ali’s hegemony,” Today magazine said, “Ma, who controls Alibaba’s 3 trillion empire, has created gods within the group, just like Mao, whom he worships. In terms of management, he set up a political commissar position, which is like a ‘Jin Yi Wei’, collecting employees’ words and behaviors to report to him.’ Alibaba has only one master, Jack Ma.’ No one can shake his authority.”
In March 2016, Sohu also reported that from 2001 to 2003, Alibaba’s most difficult period, Ma had implemented three “Mao-style” management campaigns. He also used the “Yan’an Rectification Movement” to unify values and ideals. He believes that this form is the most effective for business management change.
The Wall Street Journal quoted officials familiar with Beijing‘s thinking as saying that the authorities are trying to get Alibaba to disassociate itself from its “casual founder,” Jack Ma, in order to be treated more gently than the Ant Group.
On Alibaba’s internal communication platform, some employees have publicly called Ma the company’s “biggest destabilizing factor,” the report said.
It is reported that some employees had planned to get a windfall through the Ant Group’s IPO, and some had even put down deposits for cars or houses. It is said that some employees had planned to get a windfall through the listing of Ant Group, and some had even paid a deposit for a car or a house.
Jack Ma once said in an early speech, “Today I’m still positive about this company; but I’m always getting older, and I don’t want to become negative tomorrow.”
Now Ma is not yet old, but is already seen as the “negative energy” of the company.
The Wall Street Journal reports that senior Communist Party officials who have supported Ma in the past have shifted in response to a pledge by the Communist Party secretary in Zhejiang, the province where Alibaba is headquartered, to “strengthen anti-monopoly and prevent the disorderly expansion of capital,” including the Communist Party’s “rising star in politics “Chen Miner.
The newspaper quoted people close to Alibaba as saying that officials who have long been on Alibaba’s side told the company that it could no longer rely on them.
Last December, on the day anti-monopoly investigators from Beijing authorities moved into Alibaba’s Hangzhou headquarters for an on-site investigation, officials at a nearby Hangzhou government building used a large piece of cloth to cover a sign for a government department that was set up two years ago specifically to assist Alibaba. The report said this indicated that the days when Alibaba Group enjoyed special treatment from the government had come to an end.
Recent Comments