Jack Ma Is Stepping Down as Boss of Alibaba

Jack Ma, the executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and one of the world’s richest men, has said he plans to step down in a year, and will hand over the reins to Daniel Zhang, its chief executive. Ma, previously an English teacher, said in a letter, “Teachers always want their students to exceed them, so the responsible thing to do is to let younger, more talented people take over in leadership roles... The world is big, and I am still young, so I want to try new things.” Alibaba is one of the world’s most valuable companies—its shares nearly doubled in value last year. It reported revenue of $39.9 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2018.