Preface: Today is September 10, 2019, and Jack Ma officially stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alibaba Group. Looking back at Alibaba, which Jack Ma built from scratch, is magnificent and ups and downs, like a soul-stirring novel by Jin Yong. After "Feng Qingyang" passed down the Nine Swords of Dugu, it floated away.
This article divides Jack Ma's first half of his life into three eras, aiming to show how a striving entrepreneur has gradually built a huge business empire, with many difficulties and obstacles, and let's see how Jack Ma faces it.
01
Boyhood: Because English is connected with the world
1. The boy from West Lake with a dream of a hero
On September 10, 1964, a thin baby with bright eyes was born in a hospital in Hangzhou. The baby's grandfather gave the child a name, Jack Ma.
Jack Ma gradually grew up, but he did not inherit his father's handsome appearance. His cheekbones were deep and concave, his hair was twisted, and his head was big and small. Many years later, he got the nickname: "ET (Alien)"
Jack Ma's childhood was not good. He was thin and unwilling to be bullied. He always took the initiative to wave his fists to protect himself. He once stitched 13 stitches because he broke his head.
▲Childhood Jack Ma
Jack Ma's ambition when he was a child was to be a hero. Since elementary school, his grades have always been the lastest in the class.
When she was in junior high school, a beautiful teacher came to teach geography. In order to encourage everyone to study geography hard, the beautiful teacher told her a little story about her: Once she was watching the scenery in West Lake, several foreigners suddenly came to consult her about tourist attractions in Hangzhou. The beautiful teacher answered them in English, which shocked a group of foreigners.
However, Jack Ma did not arouse his interest in learning geography from this story, but he found that learning English well is very important and should not embarrass the Chinese.
Jack Ma bought a pocket radio, learned English with English radio, and ran to the West Lake every day to chat with foreigners, and rode his bicycle to take foreigners around Hangzhou.
It is precisely because of this act of actively contacting foreigners to speak, Jack Ma's life has changed.
2. Three college entrance examinations, hard work
In 1980, the Australian Moly family came to China for a trip and met Jack Ma, a 16-year-old in Gushan Park in Hangzhou.
They have maintained communication since then, and Mr. Morley carefully modified the English for Jack Ma in every reply. During Jack Ma's college, he would send a check to Jack Ma every six months, and in more than two years he sent a total of about 200 Australian dollars.
▲Photo by Jack Ma and David Morley
When Jack Ma was 21 years old, he received an invitation from Mr. Morley to Newcastle, so Jack Ma's first transnational trip. "The trip to Australia really changed me," said Jack Ma. "I would never think like today without those 29 days."
This is a later date and press it to not display. Back in 1982, when Jack Ma, who was 18 years old, took the college entrance examination. When the score came out, Jack Ma was stunned when he saw it. He only scored 1 point in mathematics, so he naturally couldn't go to college.
In 1983, Jack Ma began to deliver books, magazines and magazines to magazines. At that time, there was a thin and sweaty figure on the streets of Hangzhou.
One day, Jack Ma accidentally saw a book - Lu Yao's famous work "Life". After reading it, Jack Ma rekindled his fighting spirit and returned to the classroom to prepare for the second college entrance examination.
Jack Ma, who took the college entrance examination for the second time, was obviously more familiar than the first time, but he still had a pitiful 19 points in mathematics.
Jack Ma, who failed again, started looking for a job again, and found 11 jobs in succession, but was all eliminated.
In 1984, Jack Ma took the college entrance examination for the third time and reached his peak in mathematics - 89 points. Unfortunately, Jack Ma's total score is still 5 points away from the undergraduate line. However, because the enrollment indicators for English majors of Hangzhou Normal University were not satisfied, some English-speaking people were given the opportunity to advance to undergraduate degree. Jack Ma was admitted to the foreign language undergraduate major by Hangzhou Normal University with his junior college degree.
▲Ma Yun during his time at the Normal College
After entering university, Jack Ma became a good student with both good character and academic performance, and firmly ranked in the top five in the foreign language department with his outstanding English. Later, Jack Ma was elected as the chairman of the Student Union and later served as the chairman of the Hangzhou Student Union for two terms.
At this time, Jack Ma also ushered in his love. A female classmate named Zhang Ying discovered the amazing energy and talent under the body of this strange-looking and thin boy. She has never left her for many years since then.
▲Zhang Ying
02
Youth: From Teacher Ma to Boss Ma
1. Keep your promises and be a teacher for 6 years
"Jack Ma, I will assign graduates to colleges to be teachers. You are the first one. You will have to work there for at least 5 years." In 1988, Jack Ma, who graduated from college, was assigned to Hangzhou Electronics and Technology University (now Hangzhou Electronics and Technology University) as an English teacher. On the day he left school, Huang Shumeng, then vice president of Hangzhou Normal University, personally sent Jack Ma to the school gate.
Huang Shumeng was responsible for the assignment of graduates in that year. According to the normal trajectory, Jack Ma would be assigned to a middle school or elementary school to be an English teacher. However, because Hangzhou Electronics Institute of Technology was in urgent need of English teachers at that time, Jack Ma was particularly outstanding. Not only did he have outstanding grades, he also served as the chairman of the school student union for three years and the chairman of the Hangzhou Student Union for two years. Huang Shumeng boldly recommended him.
Jack Ma quickly showed his teaching talent. One of his students recalled: "Ma Yun's speech is always passionate. He never prepares lessons before class, but he often makes witty comments in class, which is very interesting. Under his influence, our interest in English doubled."
▲Ma Yun’s Student
Jiang Fang, who later became one of Alibaba's "Eighteen Arhats", was a student of Jack Ma. She recalled that Jack Ma was like a ball of fire and quickly "lighted the classroom warmly." While other teachers were still reading the script, Jack Ma was imaginative, from foreign culture to understanding life, and when he talked about the rise, he would sit on the podium. "I was very happy to talk to us, and the get out of class bell was quickly ringing."
Jack Ma soon became a "star teacher" and the classroom was always full of students. In the teaching video of that year, Jack Ma combed his hair that was popular at the time and proudly gave himself: "I am still more suitable for teaching. I teach very well, it's really great! I think I may be able to teach perfectly!"
During his more than 6 years at Hangzhou Electronics Industry College, Jack Ma has had several opportunities to change jobs and raise wages. Once, he came from Shenzhen with a salary of 1,200 yuan per month, and the other time he came from Hainan with a salary of 3,600 yuan per month. At that time, Jack Ma's monthly salary was only 120 yuan. He had been moved and hesitated about these opportunities, but he thought that he had promised Huang Shumeng. "In the end, I want to make a promise, and if I don't go, I won't go. Once I endure, I endured for six years." Jack Ma recalled in a speech.
2. First time starting a business
In 1994, Jack Ma was named the "First Outstanding Young Backbone Teacher" of Hangzhou Electronics Industry College, and was featured in the Colonel's newspaper with other award-winning colleagues. Later, Jack Ma launched the first English corner by the West Lake and began to become famous in the translation industry in Hangzhou.
In 1992, because many people came to invite Jack Ma to be a translator, 28-year-old Jack Ma began his first business and established Haibo Translation Club to invite retired teachers to be a translator.
▲Ma Yun during the Haibo Translation Agency period
Since he was not famous at the beginning, the translation agency could not even afford the rent, let alone the salary. Jack Ma had no choice but to take the night school students to Yiwu small commodity market and wholesale the goods back to Hangzhou for sale. During that time, Jack Ma sold flowers, gifts, socks, underwear, and medical devices, and barely maintained the livelihood of the translation agency.
Until 1994, Haibo Translation Company's revenue was flat. At that time, a foreign coach from Seattle, Bill and Jack Ma chatted with the Internet, and Jack Ma began to look for opportunities to decide to start a business.
In early 1995, Jack Ma came to Los Angeles as a translator to communicate and implement a highway investment. Unsuccessful, Jack Ma flew from Los Angeles to Seattle to find Bill. Bill's son-in-law Stewart works at VBN, the first ISP (Internet Service Provider) company in Seattle. Jack Ma went to visit with Bill's introduction.
According to Jack Ma's future story on CCTV's "People" column, the scene at that time was as follows:
Stewart introduced to Jack Ma, this is the computer, this is the internet, what you search for, it will come out as soon as you search, you can try it.
Jack Ma said, I dare not touch it, this thing is too expensive and it is extremely damaged.
Stewart said, it's not a bomb, it won't explode, you can't even touch it.
So, Jack Ma carefully entered four letters in Yahoo's search bar: BEER (beer).
The search results came out, and Jack Ma saw beer from all over the world. But there is no Chinese. He enters "Chinese Beer", but returns "No data" (no data).
Jack Ma asked Stewart, could he make a web page for my translation company and put it on it? Stewart said no problem. So they made a simple web page with only a brief introduction to Haibo Translation Agency and an email address. Then Jack Ma went shopping.
After more than 2 hours, Stewart told him that someone had sent you an email.
Jack Ma returned to his residence happily. When he opened his email, he saw 5 emails from the United States, Germany and Japan. One of the letters said that this is the first company I found online from China. Where are you? I want to do a business with you.
This is Jack Ma’s first experience in contacting the Internet. He was keenly aware that this was a huge business opportunity.
3. Resign and join the Internet
After returning to China in March 1995, Jack Ma immediately summoned his friends and students, and a total of 24 people were crowded at Jack Ma's house to tell them about his "adventures" of the United States. Finally, he expressed his idea of starting an Internet company.
Among the 24 people present at that time, 23 of them voted against each other. Only one person named Song Weixing said he could give it a try, but if he couldn't, he would come back.
Jack Ma hesitated for a long time before finally resigning from his public office.
When he resigned, the leaders of the college were stunned by Jack Ma's sudden actions. He asked in confusion: "Teacher Ma, aren't you kidding? You taught well, why did you suddenly resign? Is the college wronged you?"
"No," Jack Ma explained repeatedly. "The school is very nice to me. I want to go out while I am still young."
That day, in the school leaders' office, Jack Ma explained that the school leaders still sincerely tried to keep them. But the business opportunities of the Internet cannot be missed. Jack Ma knows well that he cannot have both fish and bear's paw.
In April 1995, Jack Ma and his wife, together with He Yibing, a colleague from the School of Electronic Engineering, rented a 12-square-meter house on Wener Road, Hangzhou and established a company called "Hangzhou Haibo Computer Service Co., Ltd.".
He asked Stewart to cooperate, and Stewart said, cooperation is OK, I will help you with the technology, and I will need to pay a deposit of $200,000 in advance.
$200,000, for Jack Ma at that time, he couldn't afford to sell his house.
He was very persuading, and with Bill's guarantee, Stewart agreed to help him build a website without a deposit.
In May 1995, the China Yellow Pages website was launched, which is one of the earliest Chinese websites on the Internet. At this time, there are still three months before China can access the Internet.
▲Ma Yun in the Yellow Pages Period of China
In July 1995, Jack Ma and his team took over a business to help the Zhejiang Provincial Foreign Propaganda Department carry out the "Golden Pigeon Project" and promote Zhejiang's economic and cultural achievements. This web page caused a lot of sensation, and the US Senator also sent a special letter to congratulate the Chinese government on its first online visit.
But even if you do the "golden pigeon", it is useless and the company has no business.
Later, Jack Ma went to Beijing to find connections, went to various ministries and commissions to promote his ideas, and visited the media everywhere, hoping to gain popularity, but he did not gain much.
A program called "Scholar Jack Ma" created by his fellow villager Fan Xinman recorded the hardships of Jack Ma during this period.
In the film, Jack Ma went to a state agency to contact business. At that time, he looked very immature and spoke timidly, and was not as confident as he is now.
Fan Xinman commented: "(Jack Ma) looks like a bad guy. Although he talks endlessly, his expression is sneaky. People don't know what he is talking about."
It is conceivable that Jack Ma was turned away everywhere. The film faithfully records his loss and helplessness when he was kicked around by various departments like a ball.
On the bus back tonight, Jack Ma leaned his head against the window glass, looked at the glass outside, and murmured: "In a few years, Beijing will not treat me like this; in a few years, you all have to know what I do. I will not be so down and out in Beijing."
▲"Scholar Jack Ma"
In 1996, Hangzhou Telecom also launched China Yellow Pages, forming a direct competitive relationship with Jack Ma. Telecom's Chinese Yellow Pages name is ChinesePages, which is very similar to Jack Ma's ChinaPages. The other party's registered capital is 300 million yuan, while Jack Ma's 20,000 yuan, and his strength is completely different.
In order to survive, Jack Ma had to merge China Yellow Pages and a subsidiary of Hangzhou Telecom. Telecom invested 1.4 million yuan, accounting for 70% of the shares, accounting for 5 board seats; China Yellow Pages invested 600,000 yuan, accounting for 30% of the shares, accounting for 2 board seats.
However, due to the disagreement between Jack Ma and Hangzhou Telecom, the suggestions he made were often rejected, and Jack Ma made a very depressed job.
In November 1997, Jack Ma suddenly announced with members of China Yellow Pages' team that he would leave China Yellow Pages and go to Beijing to work.
So, Jack Ma sold his 21% China Yellow Pages to the company at a low price of 20 to 30 cents per share, and got back more than 100,000 yuan. With a few willing employees, when he went north for the second time, Jack Ma was invited to serve as the general manager of China International E-Commerce Center (hereinafter referred to as EDI), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, responsible for building the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the online Chinese commodity trading market.
When he went north for the second time, Jack Ma might have the mentality of "a hero who has gone forever". When leaving Hangzhou, Zhang Ying rented a container and brought the entire house to Beijing. Soon Jack Ma and Zhang Ying took their son to Beijing to attend elementary school.
When I first arrived in Beijing, the entire team lived in the collective dormitory, with the office location in Building 7 of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. Jack Ma often reminds everyone: you must improve yourself, otherwise you will be eliminated. So, everyone works during the day, and in addition to working overtime, Jack Ma also teaches English classes for everyone at night.
Jack Ma's team worked very hard and quickly built the website. Jack Ma later participated in the establishment of Guofutong Company of the Ministry of Commerce and served as general manager.
During his time at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs, Jack Ma made good friends and not only met many people from government departments, but also became friends with Yahoo's Jerry Yang, Sohu and Zhang Chaoyang.
But Jack Ma soon felt the repression again. In the government department, the leaders had the final say in everything. Jack Ma proposed a plan to build a website based on his understanding of the market, but the leader proposed another plan, but Jack Ma had to bite the bullet and do it according to the leader's intentions.
At the same time, Chinese Internet companies had begun to develop rapidly at that time. Jack Ma felt that China's e-commerce era was coming, but he was unable to seize this opportunity and realize his dream in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.
At the end of 1998, a leader of the Department of E-commerce of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs looked for Jack Ma. Before he went, his colleagues around him smiled and told Jack Ma that he would apply for the year-end bonus with his leader.
As a result, Jack Ma came back very late and brought a decision that no one expected: leave Beijing and return to Hangzhou.
Jack Ma pointed out three ways for everyone: First, continue to stay in Guofutong, and all aspects are stable; second, he can recommend everyone to work in major companies such as Sohu and Yahoo; third, he is back to Hangzhou with him, but he doesn’t know what to do for the time being.
Jack Ma said he would give everyone three days to consider, but within 3 minutes, the team owner told Jack Ma: Boss, we decided to go back to Hangzhou together.
Before leaving Beijing, Jack Ma and his team went to the Great Wall once and left this famous photo.
▲The Great Wall and Ma Yun
According to Jack Ma's memories of Yang Lan's interview in the future, the scene on that day was exactly the same as the movie starring:
On the Great Wall, the autumn wind is very strong and the weather is very cold. One person said excitedly: Why, why do we give up? We fought from Hangzhou to Beijing, and after so many difficulties, we finally got through it, and we have to start from scratch again?
Jack Ma was also very moved and said loudly: Let's go back, start from scratch, build a company that we will never regret in our entire life.
03
The Age of the Ali Empire
1. Eighteen Arhats and "Great, Rich and Handsome"
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year in 1999, 18 people filled the room with a room in Hupan Garden Community, Hangzhou.
This is Alibaba's first full-staff meeting. Jack Ma talked passionately for 2 hours and specially invited photographers to record the entire process.
▲Eighteen Arhats
This is the legendary "18 Arhat Conference", which is one of the most famous scenes in the history of China's Internet development. This is Alibaba's first highlight moment, full of idealism. Later, the "18 Arhats" had their own experiences, which was very interesting, but it has to be said that their fate had completely changed at this moment.
At this conference, Alibaba's vision and mission have taken shape. In the years since then, Alibaba has basically followed the path that Jack Ma said at the meeting.
Jack Ma determined that the company's vision was to live for 80 years (later changed to 102 years), and his mission was to make no business difficult in the world, and his service targets were small and medium-sized enterprises. The company must be internationalized from the beginning and compete with Silicon Valley in the United States.
Jack Ma also stipulated the company's struggle culture. He said that if you want to go to work at 8 a.m. and get off at 5 p.m., you don’t have to do it here. In the next 3 to 5 years, the price we will pay will be very heavy. Only such a heavy price will guide us to success. Later, Jack Ma caused controversy because of the 996 theory of blessings, but Jack Ma actually did this since the beginning of his business.
So, these "diaosi" who had no background and no family background and did not graduate from prestigious universities began their entrepreneurial journey. In Jack Ma's later words, "No one wants them all."
In May 1999, a man in a suit and tie appeared in the lakeside garden. When he stepped into Jack Ma's apartment, a bad smell immediately rushed into his nose. Several people looked at him blankly with dark circles. This person was Cai Chongxin, who would be called the "Invisible Hero of Ali" in the future.
Cai Chongxin was born in Taiwan. After graduating from Yale University's Law School, he worked in a world-renowned investment company with an annual salary of US$700,000 (at that time it was approximately RMB 5.8 million).
Such a "tall, rich and handsome" actually had a strong desire to join Alibaba after talking to Jack Ma for four days.
After Cai Chongxin returned to the United States, he brought his wife to Hangzhou to find Jack Ma again. Jack Ma took Cai Chongxin and his wife to travel to West Lake. When the boat arrived at the lake, Cai Chongxin suddenly proposed that I want to join Alibaba. Jack Ma was shocked and almost fell into the lake. He said, I can only afford 500 yuan per month. Cai Chongxin chose to join without any hesitation.
▲Jack Ma and Tsai Chongxin
This may be Alibaba's second highlight moment, and Cai Chongxin's "marriage" truly made Alibaba successful. Jack Ma once said that among the four people he is most grateful to for his achievements today, Tsai Chongxin must be the four people he can thank for. It is no exaggeration to say that without Cai Chongxin, there would be no Alibaba today.
Today, Tsai Chongxin has long been financially free, with his net assets reaching US$9.5 billion. It makes people admire his accurate vision and extraordinary courage at that time.
2. Hold investment in your hands and be full of energy
After Cai Chongxin joined Alibaba, he started to teach everyone from the most basic "shares" and "shareholder's rights", so that Alibaba can truly start to operate in a standardized manner.
The newborn Alibaba has developed rapidly and soon encountered the biggest problem of all startups: lack of funds.
Jack Ma and Tsai Chongxin are looking for investment everywhere, but they are hitting walls everywhere. They found 38 companies, but all of them were rejected. After every time I was rejected, Jack Ma returned home and told the others of Alibaba that I rejected another investment today, full of confidence.
It was not until a long time later that other Alibaba people realized that Jack Ma did not refuse other people's investment, but was rejected by others.
In August 1999, Cai Chongxin found his old friend Lin Xiaru who worked at Goldman Sachs. Lin Xiaru was the Asia director of Goldman Sachs' private equity department at the time, and was also looking for investment opportunities for Chinese high-tech companies. After listening to Cai Chongxin's introduction, Lin Xiaru was very interested and thought it was a good investment opportunity.
Like Cai Chongxin, after smelling the odor of feet in the lakeside garden, Lin Xiaru was also moved by the passion of Jack Ma and the team. In October, Goldman Sachs and Alibaba reached an agreement, with five institutions investing a total of US$5 million in Alibaba, accounting for 50% of the shares. Among them, Goldman Sachs invested 3.3 million yuan.
Shortly after Goldman Sachs' funds came in, a friend introduced Jack Ma to meet an investor. Jack Ma was interrupted after just 6 minutes of entering the door. This Japanese, who was not tall and had few hair, immediately decided to invest 40 million yuan, hoping to hold a 49% stake.
▲Jack Ma and Masayoshi Son
At the critical moment, Cai Chongxin stopped Jack Ma who wanted to accept the investment and allowed Masayoshi Son to invest 20 million, retaining control of the founding team and allowing Alibaba's subsequent financing to proceed smoothly.
At this time, Jack Ma held US$25 million in his hand and was full of energy, but he did not expect that Alibaba's darkest moment would soon come quietly.
3. Learn from the pain and live even if you kneel
After becoming rich, Jack Ma rented a very grand office building in Hong Kong, moved Alibaba's headquarters from Hangzhou, and moved himself to Hong Kong to work. It also established server bases and technical headquarters in the United States, established offices in the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan and Australia, and recruited elite talents worldwide.
In 2000, Jack Ma promoted Alibaba around the world. He gave speeches everywhere in the BBC, Harvard, MIT, Wharton, World Economic Forum, Asian Business Association and other places, and was reported by internationally renowned magazines such as Business Weekly and The Economist, and even became the cover character of Forbes.
In China, Jack Ma started the "West Lake Sword Contest" and invited Jin Yong, Zhang Chaoyang, Wang Zhidong, Ding Lei and others to discuss the future of the Internet as a landlord, and became the leader of the domestic Internet industry.
▲Jack Ma and Jin Yong
But at that time, the Internet bubble burst, the global Internet industry entered a cold winter, and investors also held their money tightly. Although Alibaba's number of users has grown rapidly, it has not found a good monetization model and has been unable to make profits for a long time.
Within the company, the store is too large and the cost remains high, and more than one million US dollars are burned every month. Internal management is a mess too.
Just 10 days after the "Sword Contest on West Lake", Jack Ma announced that Alibaba had entered a state of emergency. He told the company's employees: It will be very serious in the next six months, and we must be prepared to work overtime at any time. Everyone is preparing to spend the winter and will survive even if they kneel.
By the end of the year, more than half of the 25 million yuan financing had been burned out, and only $7 million was left in the company's account. If you can't find a new way out within half a year, Alibaba will be finished.
Jack Ma finally made up his mind and made several decisions: First, he laid off a large number of overseas bases and returned to China in full; second, he withdrew his headquarters from Hong Kong to Hangzhou; third, he laid off employees around the world.
A large number of elites who were invited back with high salaries were laid off. After these changes, Alibaba's monthly operating costs have dropped to around $500,000, and the company has won 14 months of survival.
Jack Ma compared this experience to the "Long March". He said that the completion of the change means that we have climbed the snow-capped mountains, passed the grassland, and arrived in Yan'an. Next, we need to do three things: carry out the rectification movement, establish the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, and Nanniwan land reclamation.
The so-called rectification movement is to unify goals, mission and values; establish the Anti-Japanese War, which is to cultivate effective cadres; and the reclamation of land in Nanniwan means to support one's own strength and not rely on others.
With the help of these three moves, Alibaba gradually improved. By the end of 2001, there were more than one million corporate users in Alibaba, and the company also achieved a break-even profit.
4. Taobao is born, fighting for eBay
Alibaba finally survived. Alibaba's third highlight moment is about to usher in.
On April 16, 2003, Jack Ma called Shi Yufeng, Jiang Peng and seven others to the office and said solemnly: "I want to send you to complete a task. This task is still in a top secret state. The whole company doesn't know that you have to leave the company and go to other places to do it. You can't tell others, even if it's your girlfriend or even your parents, otherwise I will fire you immediately. If you want, there is a contract, which is in all English, and you will sign it immediately."
These seven people basically did not hesitate and signed within one minute. In the afternoon of that day, the seven people moved to the birthplace of Alibaba, Lakeside Garden. Started work day and night.
On May 10, the project was officially launched, and an employee named "A Ke" named the project, called "Taobao".
▲Taobao
Unlike Alibaba's B2B (merchant to merchant), Taobao's positioning is C2C (personal to individual).
In fact, there was actually a C2C giant in the Chinese market at that time, that was the US retail website eBay, which already occupied 90% of China's Internet C2C market.
Ms. Whitman, president of eBay, immediately noticed Taobao, but after studying it, she said disdainfully: Taobao can't last for 18 months.
At that time, international shopping websites had to pay to upload product information, and eBay entered China was no exception.
Jack Ma announced the policy of "Taobao for three years" that is free, and it will only burn money without charging fees. With Taobao's financial strength, it cannot be sustained at all.
Facing the ridicule of his opponent, Jack Ma showed a good attitude. He smiled and said, "We will definitely win because we know China better than them."
Since then, Taobao and ebay have launched three battles: advertising war, psychological warfare and tool warfare.
In terms of advertising, eBay China allocated US$100 million in market budget, signed exclusive advertising agreements with all major Chinese portals, and bought out all keywords related to "Taobao" on Google and Baidu.
In the PC Internet era, this kind of ban is almost fatal.
Jack Ma, who is familiar with Mao Zedong's tactics, adopted the classic "surrounding the city in the countryside".
First, if it cannot be connected online, then go offline. Taobao will place advertisements everywhere on TV, street signs, subways, and elevators; second, if it cannot be connected on large websites, then go to small websites, and Taobao has established cooperative relationships with thousands of small websites; third, it will enter the entertainment industry and create advertisements in movies such as "nothing in the world", "initial text D, and Hancheng Guide".
In terms of psychological warfare, the two sides have fought a lot of verbal battles on key points such as profit model and number of users.
The most important thing is tool warfare. After Taobao was launched, it soon discovered that C2C, which does not solve the payment bottleneck, is difficult to grow up. At the suggestion of Taobao users, Taobao decided to build a payment tool - Alipay.
On September 10, 2003, Jack Ma transferred Lu Zhaoxi, who was in Guangdong, to Hangzhou and asked him to do Alipay. Since then, Alipay has developed hard and gradually became another towering tree in Alibaba's system.
经过这三场战役的交锋，短短一年的时间，淘宝网的流量已经进入全球前20之列，交易额已经可以和eBay平分秋色。
但是，如果没有足够的资金支撑，免费的淘宝，逃脱不了惠特曼的预言，终将死在烧钱上面。
由于淘宝不赚钱，其运营经费几乎全部来自阿里。但随着淘宝越做越大，阿里也渐渐承受不起如此体量的烧钱了。
就在这时，马云做出了一个震惊中外的巨大决定。
5、并购雅虎，最终上市
2005年8月17日，雅虎宣布以10亿美元现金和雅虎中国全部资产为代价，同时获雅虎10亿美元投资，换取马云创办的阿里巴巴40%的股份和35%的投票权，马云出任中国雅虎董事局主席。
▲马云和雅虎杨致远
一个年收入30多亿美元的世界互联网巨无霸竟然被一个年收入10亿人民币的中国网站收购了，当时的人完全不能理解。可到了今天，雅虎的10亿美元，也成为该公司历史上最成功的一笔交易。若干年后，雅虎已经全面没落，被迫将核心业务卖给亚马逊，其所持有的阿里股份被注入一家名为Altaba的公司中，这些股份在2019年的市值超过千亿美元。
淘宝有钱了，也得救了。eBay当机立断，马上放弃了中国市场，把其两年前收购的易趣卖给了TOM网，完全撤离了中国。
至此，淘宝网占据了中国零售电商80%的市场份额，成为绝对的霸主。
到了2007年，阿里巴巴的B2B业务已经拥有了2500万用户，并且有良好的现金流，早就具备了上市条件。
7月，马云终于公布了启动上市的消息。11月6日，阿里巴巴B2B业务在香港上市。这次上市，直接造就了将近1000名员工成为百万富翁，是当时中国互联网发展史上最大规模的一次造富奇迹。
▲阿里巴巴上市
其中，“18罗汉”人均身价过亿，这些被马云称为“没有人要，才来阿里巴巴”的人，在8年的时间里，由于跟对了老板，上对了平台，也由于自己的努力，一个个成为了亿万富翁。
但很多人没想到的是，在高光结束后紧接着却是黑暗。上市后的第二个月，马云突然宣布，4位高管从2008年起调离岗位，送去读商学院。
这4人是：
1996年就追随马云、立下汗马功劳的、时任淘宝网总裁的孙彤宇；
2000年加入阿里，长期为阿里四大巨头之一的CTO吴炯；
1996年初作为第一位员工加入中国黄页，为阿里打造了蜚声中外的中供铁军的李琪；
2000年加入阿里，与李琪一起打造中供铁军，时任阿里资深副总裁的李旭晖。
以这4人资历之深、贡献之大、职位之高，突然遭此变故，令所有人错愕。
孙彤宇甚至当场哭出来。据说由于他老婆彭蕾作为主管人事的公司高层，提前知晓此事却未告知自己的丈夫，两人后来爆发了剧烈争吵，还一度为此而离婚（不过后来又复婚）。
▲马云和孙彤宇
马云的公开解释是三条：第一，他们太累了，该休息一下了；第二，公司需要全世界最优秀的管理团队，派这些人出去学习，是让他们提升自己，为了实现“由中国人创办的全世界最优秀的公司”这一远景；第三，他们到哈佛、北大学习，也许三四年以后，又会充满力量、激情回来，成为我们的接班人，发挥更大作用。
但后来，这四个人都没有真正地回来。
6、最难决定，支付宝之变
马云曾这样评价自己的这个决定：“虽然不完美，但是唯一并且正确”。
支付宝是淘宝内部孵化出来的产品，从淘宝分家后，也一直是阿里巴巴大家庭的一员。
但是，2009年和2010年，阿里巴巴两次转让支付宝股权，剔除了所有外资方，将支付宝纳入马云和谢世煌两人控股的另一家公司。
在法律意义上，这等于是把原属于所有股东的一家公司，变成了完全由马云所有的公司。而阿里巴巴的两个最大的股东，是雅虎和软银。
杨致远和孙正义对此极度不满。雅虎作为美国上市公司，于2011年提交给美国证监会的经营业绩详细报告中曝光了这一行为，引起了舆论哗然。
马云回应说：杨致远和孙正义都是知情的，讨论过多次，但是没有达成协议。
支付宝之所以转移股权，是为了符合国家规定。
2010年年底，在提交支付牌照申请前一天，央行特意向所有申请人发函通知：
如果有外资协议控制请重新申报，如果没有外资协议控制的，请公开声明。
当外界的目光都集中于行业龙头、外资控股70%的支付宝身上时，马云读懂了“通知”的潜台词，开始为支付宝“没有外资协议控制”运筹帷幄。
事实上，在此之前，马云就有预感到问题所在了，阿里董事会围绕于此的磋商已经历时数年。
但直到“通知”下发，分歧依旧无法调和。
只剩下阿里这块优质资产的雅虎仍旧坚持以外资绝对控股身份申请支付牌照；软银孙正义则提议成立支付宝内资公司进行VIE控制去碰运气。
最后磋商的环节，雅虎先是强烈反对转移支付宝而后干脆不再表态，软银孙正义更是一谈到支付宝就直接回避。
但马云知道，支付宝规模越大，越不可能“外资控制”。
经过与央行一句一句的沟通，他已经确定，要顺利申请支付牌照，只有取消VIE协议转为内资这一条路。
“必须百分之百合法”。“假如没有拿到牌照，支付宝将变成一家非法经营机构，后果也将不堪设想。”
软银、雅虎不支持，认准了只有华山一条路的马云，决定独自上华山。
冒着得罪所有人的危险，他做出了那个极度艰难的决定：
单边终止支付宝的VIE，对雅虎、软银进行补偿，向央行表态支付宝没有外资协议控制，从此完全确立支付宝内资身份。
2011年7月，阿里巴巴、雅虎和软银就此事达成最终协议：支付宝上市时，一次性补偿给雅虎和软银占IPO市值37.5%的现金，最低20亿美元，最高60亿美元。在此项补偿完成之前，支付宝将每年向阿里巴巴集团缴纳公司税前利润的49.9%。
7、马云的接班人张勇
张勇原是当时如日中天的游戏公司盛大的副总裁兼CFO，被蔡崇信看中，挖了过来，担任淘宝CFO。
来了才发现，淘宝的CFO不只是管财务，连业务也要管，后来甚至连COO的职位也一并给他承担了。
张勇作为COO负责的项目中，有一个烂尾的半吊子工程，原本是一个事业部级别的项目，做了半年多，一直失败，原负责人撂挑子辞职了，事业部解散，团队只剩20多人，成为一个人人避之不及的垃圾项目。
这个垃圾项目，名字叫“淘宝商城”，以后会改名为“天猫”。
▲马云和张勇
2009年3月，张勇接手了淘宝商城。这时候，淘宝商城只是淘宝网上一个可有可无的附属品，在市场上没有任何名气，既没什么商家进驻，也没什么消费者关心。
为了打响淘宝商城的名气，张勇想了很多办法，但是都收效甚微。
后来，张勇和团队商量，要在下半年搞一次大促销，日期要避开国庆节和圣诞节两个购物季，于是就选在中间位置。最后选定了一个最好记的日子：双十一光棍节。
经过艰苦的推广，张勇团队终于搞定了一批商家愿意在这一天一起降价促销，全部参与的商家加起来——27个。
面对这么惨淡的数字，大家也不抱什么指望了，聊胜于无吧。
但是最后的促销效果完全出乎意料，绝大多数商品一大早就给抢光了，店家不得不赶紧补货。一天下来盘点，27家商户，共计卖了5200万，是平时的10倍。
这个现象也引起了媒体的广泛报道和网民的热议，一下子几乎人人皆知。
有了这一波宣传，第二年情况就完全不同了，参与品牌达到了711家，销售额达到了9.36亿。
By 2013, the fifth year of Double Eleven, the number of participating merchants reached several thousand, with a total transaction volume of 700 times higher than five years ago, reaching 35 billion yuan.
By 2018, Tmall’s Double Eleven transaction volume had reached an astonishing 213.5 billion yuan.
▲Zhang Yong and Double Eleven
This festival has long exceeded Tmall's field and has become a carnival day for the whole network. On the evening of November 10th every year, girls from thousands of families will wait for the arrival of the early morning of the 11th like waiting for their long-lost lovers, and rush to buy everything crazy.
The Double Eleven created by Zhang Yong has become a miracle in the history of world Internet development.
8. Retreat bravely and pursue your dreams
On May 10, 2013, Jack Ma stepped down as CEO of Alibaba.
He said in an internal email: "From the bottom of my heart, I admire today's young people. The Internet is the world of young people. It is our responsibility and our honor to provide them with more and larger stages. It is also the greatest contribution we can make to the company's future. This year, most of Alibaba's leaders born in the 1960s will withdraw from the management and executive role, and we will hand over the leadership responsibilities to colleagues in the 1970s and 1980s. Because we believe that they understand the future better than us and are more capable of creating tomorrow."
▲Jack Ma kneeled down and stepped down as CEO
Later, Jack Ma was mainly responsible for the strategic decision-making of Alibaba's board of directors, assisting the CEO in cultivating organizational culture and talents, and vigorously promoting Alibaba's public welfare undertakings.
At the same time, in 2013, Alibaba launched the listing process again (previously, Alibaba B2B had withdrawn from the Hong Kong stock market in 2012).
Since the Hong Kong stock market did not recognize "AB shares" at that time (that is, the issuance of two types of stocks A and B shares at the same time, and the voting rights of Class A and Class B shares are different), Alibaba chose to go public in the United States. Moreover, what is listed this time is no longer a separate B2B business, but the entire group.
On September 20, 2014, Alibaba completed its second listing on the New York Stock Exchange. On that day, Alibaba's stock price soared by 38.07%, pushing Jack Ma to the position of China's richest man. Alibaba also became the fourth largest company in the world with a market value of US$231.4 billion.
Interestingly, Jack Ma did not attend the bell ringing this time. He told the executives: "It doesn't make much sense for us to show up when we go up again and again. We should choose 8 customers to go up, they are our service objects and our parents for food and clothing."
At this time, Jack Ma's pattern had risen to a greater level and gradually formed his own philosophy. As Alibaba's chairman, his vision was no longer limited to one company.
On September 10, 2018, Jack Ma announced in an open letter to customers, Alibaba people and shareholders that he would no longer serve as the chairman of Alibaba Group on the occasion of Alibaba's 20th anniversary on September 10, 2019, and confirmed that he would be replaced by the current CEO of Alibaba Group Zhang Yong.
At the same time, Jack Ma will continue to serve as a member of the Alibaba Group's board of directors until the 2020 Alibaba's annual shareholders' meeting.
Regarding this resignation, Jack Ma publicly shouted, "I will step down as Alibaba Chairman, but this does not mean that I am not starting a business, nor does it mean that I am retired."
"I won't stop. Alibaba is just one of my dreams. I'm still very young today, and there are still many places I haven't tried to do, and there are still many things I want to do." Jack Ma's choice to step down on the 20th anniversary of Alibaba's establishment is not only a farewell to his past, but also a starting point for his dream to start again.
04
Alibaba sets off again in the post-Jack Ma era
If you look at the hot list of entrepreneurs, except for Huawei Chairman Ren Zhengfei this year, it can be said that in the past 10 years, Jack Ma has been the most talked about. "In fact, we Chinese people especially need a leader, no matter in any industry, and Jack Ma can be regarded as one of the leaders in the business world.
Alibaba was born in 1999. Jack Ma set a goal for Alibaba to live for 102 years, hoping to span three centuries. The cornerstone that supports this ideal is the mission, vision and values that Jack Ma brings to Alibaba. Jack Ma’s name is “Feng Qingyang”, and he named Ali’s values “Dugu Jiujian”. Just as written in “The Smiling and Proud Wanderer”, Feng Qingyang passed the Dugu Jiujian to Linghu Chong and floated away.
Jack Ma dared to step down early because he had already set the taste of Alibaba. As long as Alibaba maintains this taste, he can continue along this path.
Secondly, Zhang Yong's replacement of Jack Ma marks the success of Alibaba's partnership mechanism. Since then, Alibaba has solved the inheritance of corporate leaders and the innovation and development of enterprises. With the emergence of a new generation of leaders, it will greatly enhance the development vitality of enterprises.
Finally, if an enterprise wants to survive, it must first have a great strategic vision and a clear development direction, and then ensure the realization of the strategic route through scientific, meticulous and pragmatic management. In the process of enterprise development, we must pursue a balance, considering the needs of reality and focusing on the needs of long-term development.
Jack Ma’s resignation now means that he has seen the present and focused on the future.
I believe that both Alibaba and Jack Ma will live more brilliantly in the "post-Jack Ma era". We will see a Alibaba that is as powerful and energetic as ever, and we will also see a Jack Ma who is happier and doing what he likes.
This is a starting point, not an ending.
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