Jack Ma Engineered Alibaba’s Breakup From Overseas


知情人士透露，就在马云周游世界的时候，他在和阿里巴巴高管的通话中用自己的影响力推动了这个电商帝国一拆六的计划。


卸任阿里巴巴董事局主席的马云仍然积极参与公司战略决策。

知情人士透露，分拆电商帝国阿里巴巴集团控股有限公司(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., BABA, 9988.HK, 简称：阿里巴巴)的计划是中国亿万富豪马云(Jack Ma)在海外安排推动的。 6park.com
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma orchestrated from overseas the corporate breakup of the e-commerce empire he built, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter. 6park.com
   
知情人士称，尽管马云2019年就不再担任阿里巴巴董事局主席，但对公司仍有影响力，并积极参与公司战略决策。知情人士表示，马云最近几个月与包括现任董事局主席兼CEO张勇(Daniel Zhang)在内的阿里高管多次通话，敦促他们分拆公司，称此举将使阿里巴巴在中国日益饱和的市场中更加灵活也更有竞争力。 6park.com
Despite having stepped down as executive chairman of Alibaba in 2019, Mr. Ma remained an influential figure at the company and is active in deciding its strategy, the people said. In recent months, he held calls with Alibaba’s top executives, including the current Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Zhang, urging them to split up the company, saying it would make it more nimble and competitive in China’s increasingly crowded market, the people said. 6park.com
   
本周一，马云突然到访阿里巴巴总部所在地杭州的一所学校，这是他近一年来首次返回中国大陆。在他现身一天后，阿里巴巴宣布将分拆为六家独立实体，每家都将有自己的CEO和董事会，并能自行寻求上市。 6park.com
Mr. Ma on Monday made a surprise visit to a school in Alibaba’s hometown of Hangzhou, his first known trip back to mainland China in almost a year. He appeared a day before the company announced it would split into six separate entities, each with its own CEO and board and free to pursue separate future IPOs. 6park.com
  
周游世界的马云上周末前往香港，他在那里拥有一处豪宅，而据知情人士透露，他原本计划本周初去日本。目前还不清楚是什么原因改变了马云的行程，而他返回中国大陆也引发了外界猜测他是否与中国政府达成了某种协议。 6park.com
The peripatetic Mr. Ma, who late last week traveled to Hong Kong where he has a luxury home, was initially planning to head to Japan early this week, according to people familiar with the matter. It remains unclear what prompted the sudden change in his itinerary, and the tycoon’s trip home has sparked speculation as to whether he had struck any deal with China’s government. 6park.com
   
自从马云打造的商业帝国在两年多前遭到中国政府审查以来，这位中国最知名的科技大佬基本就淡出了公众视野。在马云造访海外养鱼场和农业基地期间，阿里巴巴在2021年4月被指违反反垄断法，中国政府向其开出28亿美元罚单。2020年底，阿里巴巴的关联公司、金融科技巨头蚂蚁集团(Ant Group Co.)的重磅IPO在最后一刻被中国监管机构叫停，并被要求整改业务。 6park.com
The country’s most famous tech billionaire had largely retreated from the public eye since the business empire he built came under Beijing’s scrutiny more than two years ago. As he visited fish farms and agricultural sites around the world, back home Alibaba was punished with a $2.8 billion antitrust penalty in April 2021. Its affiliated fintech giant, Ant Group Co., had its blockbuster IPO called off by Chinese regulators at the 11th hour in late 2020 along with demands to overhaul its business. 6park.com
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知情人士称，在马云近日返回中国大陆以前，北京方面最近几个月一直在通过中共退休官员和其他企业家向他伸出橄榄枝。这些知情人士称，他们传递的信息旨在激发马云的爱国热情，让他明白现在是回国做贡献的时候了。 6park.com
The tycoon’s return in recent days followed repeated outreaches over recent months from Beijing, through retired Communist Party officials and fellow tycoons, people familiar with the matter said. The message they brought sought to appeal to Mr. Ma’s patriotism: It’s time to come back and contribute to China’s development, the people said. 6park.com
   
知情人士表示，在去年11月中共二十大闭幕后，中共官员开始劝说马云回国。中国领导人习近平在二十大上进一步巩固了权力。在今年3月初的全国人大会议后，新任总理李强在他的首次新闻发布会上花了大量时间安抚企业家，让他们相信中国政府会支持民营部门。 6park.com
Those entreaties began after the conclusion of the 20th Party Congress in November that saw Chinese leader Xi Jinping tighten his grip on power, the people said. After China’s legislative gathering in early March, new premier Li Qiang devoted much of his first news conference to reassuring entrepreneurs of Beijing’s support for the private sector. 6park.com
  
马云公益基金会(Jack Ma Foundation)在一份声明中说，马云不再参与阿里巴巴的管理和运营，并表示他经常在中国和海外旅行，专注于用新技术发展农业。 6park.com
Mr. Ma is no longer involved in Alibaba’s management and operation, the Jack Ma Foundation said in a statement. He has been traveling often in China and overseas, focusing on developing agriculture by new technology, the foundation added. 6park.com
   
阿里巴巴的一位发言人表示，阿里巴巴的重组由张勇领导，称张勇同时担任阿里巴巴集团和新成立的云计算公司的CEO，表明大家对他带领阿里巴巴共创未来抱有信心。 6park.com
Alibaba’s reorganization was led by Mr. Zhang, an Alibaba spokesperson said. His role as CEO of both Alibaba Group and the newly established cloud-computing company “demonstrates the confidence and trust in his leadership to drive Alibaba’s future,” the spokesperson said. 6park.com
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作为阿里巴巴合伙人委员会的成员，马云保留了一定的官方影响力。阿里巴巴合伙人是一个战略决策机构，由阿里巴巴的几位高管组成。这个合伙人制度于2010年正式确立，按照惯例拥有提名集团董事会候选人的专属权利。 6park.com
Mr. Ma retained some official influence as a committee member of Alibaba Partnership, a strategy-making body of senior executives drawn from the e-commerce giant. The partnership, formally established in 2010, conventionally has the exclusive right to nominate candidates for board seats of the group. 6park.com
   
尽管马云此前一直试图远离媒体视线，但他的一举一动仍备受关注，对中国营商环境仍投下一道长长的阴影。马云的境遇在国内外被视为中国政府对待民营企业态度的晴雨表。 6park.com
Although Mr. Ma has been absent from the spotlight, his every move has made headlines, and he still casts a long shadow over China’s business environment. His fortunes are viewed at home and abroad as a barometer of Beijing’s attitude toward private enterprises. 6park.com
  
康奈尔大学(Cornell University)教授、国际货币基金组织(International Monetary Fund, 简称IMF)前中国区负责人普拉萨德(Eswar Prasad)表示，中国政府似乎急于发出信号：像马云这样曾被称赞具有远见卓识但后来被政府贬抑的知名企业家，现在欢迎他们回国。 6park.com
“Beijing seems eager to show that prominent entrepreneurs like Jack Ma, once hailed as visionaries and then vilified by the government, are now welcome back in China,” said Eswar Prasad, a professor at Cornell University and a former China head at the International Monetary Fund. 6park.com
   
马云此前在中国的名流大亨身份以及阿里巴巴等科技巨头的巨大影响力与中国领导人不合拍。中国监管机构后来对科技公司实施了为期两年的全面整顿，直到最近才显露缓和迹象。 6park.com
Mr. Ma’s celebrity tycoon status in China, coupled with the outsize influence of tech giants including Alibaba, was out of step with China’s leaders. Regulators later carried out a wide-ranging two-year regulatory crackdown on tech firms that has only recently shown signs of easing up. 6park.com
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虽然还不清楚是什么原因促使马云回国，但投资者和分析师表示，马云很可能与中国政府达成了协议。 6park.com
While it is unclear what prompted Mr. Ma to come back to China, investors and analysts say he likely struck a deal with Beijing. 6park.com
   
亚洲协会政策研究院(Asia Society Policy Institute)中国分析中心(Center for China Analysis)联合创始人兼董事总经理Jing Qian表示，马云非常擅长谈交易。他说，马云可能为中国争夺科技霸主地位的宏大抱负助一臂之力。他指出，马云正是以善于调动资源创新，进而击败外国竞争对手而闻名的。 6park.com
“He’s a very good deal maker,” said Jing Qian, co-founder and managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, noting that Mr. Ma could help Beijing’s wider ambitions in the battle for tech supremacy. “One thing we forgot about is that Jack is the one known for his ability to mobilize resources to innovate and to beat foreign competitors,” he added. 6park.com
   
阿里巴巴高管表示，这次重组旨在让公司变得更加敏捷，同时拓宽融资渠道。重组也符合中国政府打破垄断以鼓励市场竞争的意图。 6park.com
Alibaba executives said the restructuring is designed to give the company more flexibility and more access to capital. It also aligns with China’s desire to break down monopolies to allow market competition. 6park.com
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这次分拆标志着马云在2017年构想的“阿里巴巴经济体”(Alibaba Economy)的理念发生逆转，当时马云担任阿里巴巴董事会主席，正试图让阿里巴巴与包括蚂蚁集团在内的关联企业协同发展。 6park.com
The breakup marks a reversal of the “Alibaba Economy” ethos conceived by Mr. Ma in 2017, when he was serving as Alibaba’s chairman and aligned the company with its affiliates including fintech giant Ant Group. 6park.com
  
但随着中国政府对大型互联网平台公司的态度恶化，业务集中化的理念变得越来越站不住脚。来自对手的激烈竞争也让阿里巴巴的集中化运营模式越发力不从心，从线上购物网站到直播和外卖，各项业务都是如此。 6park.com
As Beijing’s attitude toward big platform companies soured, the notion of centralization became increasingly untenable. So too did fierce competition from rivals, from online shopping sites to live-streaming and food delivery. 6park.com
   
据《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)当时报道，2021年，阿里巴巴CEO张勇开始将更多权力下放给各业务部门负责人，为分拆铺路。知情人士说，这一决定是与马云协商后做出的。 6park.com
In 2021, CEO Mr. Zhang started to devolve more power to the heads of business units, paving the way for spinoffs, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. That decision was made in consultation with Mr. Ma, people familiar with the matter said. 6park.com
   
正式分拆阿里巴巴则是更加艰巨的任务。知情人士说，挑战之一是如何安置阿里巴巴的各类老员工和高管。许多做到集团层级的高管将不得不退休或在子公司任职。 6park.com
To formally split Alibaba into pieces was a thornier task. One of the challenges would be how to place various company veterans and executives, the people said. Many group-level executives would either have to retire or take positions at the subsidiaries. 6park.com
  
知情人士称，在决定分拆的过程中，马云起到了关键作用，很多高层员工仍尊敬并愿意追随马云。 6park.com
It was the efforts of Mr. Ma—who still commands respect and loyalty from senior staff—that moved the needle in the decision to split the company, the people said. 6park.com
  
其中一位知情人士称，在马云联系过的人中，包括阿里巴巴副首席人力官、公司的中坚力量蒋芳。当问到此事时，阿里巴巴未发表评论。 6park.com
Those whom Mr. Ma called included Jane Fang Jiang, Alibaba’s deputy chief people officer and a company stalwart, according to one of the people. Alibaba didn’t comment when asked about the call. 6park.com
  
张勇周四说，选在本周宣布消息是因为考虑到4月1日起是阿里新的财年。 6park.com
Mr. Zhang said Thursday that Alibaba made the announcement this week ahead of its new fiscal year beginning April 1. 6park.com