Jack Ma gives up title at Zhejiang guild as Alibaba founder keeps up his post-retirement study of fisheries and agriculture

Ma was briefed by researchers at the Kindai University’s Aquaculture Research Institute about the raising cycle of bluefin tuna

Ma has stepped down as the president of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs

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Jack Ma, founder and former chairman of Alibaba Group Holding, at the Oshima station of the Kindai University’s Aquaculture Research Institute in Wakayama prefecture on the southernmost tip of Japan’s Honshu island. Photo: Handout

Tracy Quin ShanghaiandCoco Fengin Beijing

Published: 11:30pm, 7 Dec 2022Updated: 8:57am, 8 Dec 2022

Jack Ma relinquished his title as the head of a prestigious guild in his home province, as the founder of Alibaba Group Holding continued his post-retirement tour of food-related businesses and farms around the world.

Ma, who turned 58 in September, stepped down on Wednesday as the president of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs, a titular position he held since 2015 in the congregation of corporate chieftains in his home province, an area in China long-known for private entrepreneurship.

Ma’s successor at the guild is Nan Cunhui, the chairman of the electric parts maker Chint Group, according to the association’s bimonthly publication Zheshang Magazine.

The guild offered Ma a prestigious backdrop to speak about entrepreneurship, management and governance, and now it continues to offer him an honorary title as an adviser.

Jack Ma arrives for the Tech for Good summit in Paris on May 15, 2019. Photo: AP

Ma retired and stepped down as Alibaba’s executive chairman in 2019 when he turned 55. Ma has no plans to live abroad permanently, according to people familiar with his plans. He will next go to Southeast Asia for a similar look at agriculture-related businesses.

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