Wu Yongming's First All-Staff Letter as CEO of Alibaba: Times are Changing, Alibaba Must Change (Full Text)

Recently, Xiaoyaozi Zhang Yong stepped down as CEO of Alibaba Group, and Wu Yongming took over. On his third day in office, he issued a letter to all employees, stating that times are changing and Alibaba must change.

Below is the full text of Wu Yongming's letter to all employees:

Dear Alibaba colleagues, hello, I am Wu Yongming.

Today is my third day as the CEO of Alibaba Group, and I am honored to fight alongside all of you.

Times are changing, and Alibaba must change! As the times progress, Alibaba must progress even further! Over the past 24 years, Alibaba has seized the tide of the times and achieved rapid growth by using internet technology. Today, the traditional internet model has become severely homogeneous and is facing a stock competition, while new technologies represented by AI artificial intelligence are becoming the new driving force for global business development.

Alibaba must undergo self-transformation in order to find the key to the future, to adhere to the original intention of solving social problems, to fulfill the mission of serving small and medium-sized enterprises, and to uphold the vision of being a good company that benefits society.

I announce to you all that Alibaba has established two strategic priorities for the future: putting users first and being AI-driven. The Group will organize its business around these two priorities and reshape the priority of its business strategy. Based on this, the Group will increase strategic investment in three types of businesses: 1) technology-driven internet platform businesses; 2) AI-driven technology businesses; 3) globalized business networks.

The foundation of all businesses lies in user value and the retention of users. We must firmly shift our focus to the user's perspective, meet user needs from multiple dimensions, and prioritize user needs above all else. Only by attracting more users can we bring more market opportunities to merchants.

At the same time, in the new era, if we want to create the best user experience in the industry, we must be more open. Each business should actively seek the broadest openness and cooperation from the perspective of putting users first, including companies that have traditionally been in a competitive relationship with us. Correspondingly, while ensuring the strategic synergy, we will allow more cooperation between businesses to follow market principles.

The biggest variable in the next decade is undoubtedly the profound transformation brought about by AI. We must have the determination to start a new business again in the AI era and reshape user value in order to have the opportunity to continue serving customers in the next ten years.

Each of our businesses has a large number of user scenarios, and we must turn these scenarios into the best applications of AI technology, bringing breakthrough user experiences and business models through technological innovation. If we cannot keep up with the changes of the AI era, there will certainly be new species that will replace us.

Another important area is globalization. Globalization is not only an opportunity but also a responsibility for Alibaba. The first business Alibaba started was a global business, and at that time, we aspired to create a company founded by Chinese people that has unique value in global economic development.

Now, we have made many layouts globally and will concentrate our strengths for a major breakthrough. Importantly, Alibaba is not only going global itself but also building a global business network to assist more Chinese and global small and medium-sized enterprises in expanding their business opportunities in the world.

In terms of organizational structure, Alibaba Group will continue to deepen this organizational transformation, strengthen the independent decision-making systems of each business with a more flexible and open governance mechanism, and support each business in exploring suitable organizational models and business paths based on its own characteristics. At the same time, Alibaba Group will continue to be a solid backing for all business lines. Finally, I hope that all Alibaba businesses can make judgments on trends for more than 5 years in the future and dare to make strategic investments and product innovations in advance. In conjunction with this, we need to establish incentive mechanisms and systems based on longer-term business cycles.

At the same time, we will resolutely implement team rejuvenation. Within 4 years, we will have post-85s and post-90s as the main managers, refreshing the business management team and creating mechanisms and cultural environments that allow more young Alibaba employees to become the core strength of Alibaba.

I firmly believe that as long as we maintain an entrepreneurial mindset, refrain from dwelling on the past, and avoid clinging to conventions, Alibaba will continue to achieve tremendous development and create more value in the AI era. Let's work hard together, Alibaba people!

Daniel Zhang

CEO of Alibaba Group

September 12, 2023