Jack Ma: Celebs Rumors

Alibaba Group has announced that co-founder Joe Tsai is taking over as chairman, while Eddie Wu, currently chairman of ecommerce businesses Taobao and Tmall Group, has been appointed CEO. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce, technology and entertainment giant, said Tuesday that Joseph C. Tsai will succeed Daniel Zhang as chairman of the group. Eddie Wu (aka Wu Yongming) will take over Zhang’s role as group CEO. Both men are veterans of the group. Tsai, owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball franchise, is currently Alibaba’s executive vice chairman. Wu is one of Alibaba’s founders and was its original chief technology officer in 1999. He has since held the CTO role at key businesses units including Taobao and Alipay and is currently chairman of Taobao and Tmall Group. Zhang, who took over as group chairman from the iconic Jack Ma, is in the process of orchestrating the biggest restructuring in Alibaba’s 24-year history. Alibaba, which has share listings in New York and Hong Kong, is to transform itself into a holding company with stakes in six separate business units that are free to raise their own capital or even go down the IPO route.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNet earnings at Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant and media owner, dropped by 50% to $3.40 billion (RMB22.7 billion) in the three months between April and June, the first quarter of its current financial year. Revenues were unchanged at $30.7 billion (RMB206 billion).

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has made his first public appearance since October after questions swirled about his whereabouts.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese streaming giant iQIYI reports that it has started production on “Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain,” a film adapted from the classic novel of the same name by Louis Cha (aka Jin Yong), a renowned Hong Kong novelist who was one of the most read Chinese-language authors of the 20th century.Cha, who also co-founded the Ming Pao newspaper, and directed two films, is best known for his wuxia (chivalric martial arts) novels that with one exception stretch in time from the 11th to the 18th century.

Questions are growing about the whereabouts of Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, after he failed to appear on the finale of an African business TV show he created.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSeveral Western media outlets have reported the disappearance of Jack Ma, China’s most prominent businessman, and co-founder of e-commerce and entertainment giant Alibaba. Some reports claim Ma hasn’t been seen in public for some two months.Although he is no longer a senior executive at Alibaba, Ma remains the controlling shareholder of Ant Group, a fintech spinoff from Alibaba that was expected to launch the biggest IPO in history back in November.Ma, Ant and Alibaba have all been in the crosshairs of mainland Chinese authorities since just before the scheduled IPO, when Ma appeared to criticize finance industry regulators and China’s state-owned banks.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAn Indian court has asked Chinese tech giant Alibaba, and its co-founder Jack Ma, to present evidence about the operation of its news operations. The request stems from a personnel case in which a former employee claims he was unfairly dismissed for refusing to censor content carried by Alibaba apps.The case, reported first by the Reuters news agency, is brought by Pushpandra Singh Parmar and is being heard by Judge Sonia Sheokand at a District Court in Gurugram, near Delhi.

Alibaba Pictures, the stock market-listed film subsidiary of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, is to pay $57 million (RMB400 million) for a majority stake in variety show producer Tianjin Yinhekuyu.