Alibaba’s Jack Ma admits 'shooting mouth off,' apologises to JD.com for jabs at its business
Billionaire Jack Ma apologised for calling Chinese e-commerce rival JD.com Inc a "tragedy," saying he was sorry for causing the company trouble by "putting it all out there."
The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder and chairman said on his personal Weibo account that JD.com had his blessings after criticisms of its business model were published last month in a Chinese-language book. Ma said he had a habit of making "crazy" and "stupid" boasts and didn’t expect that such private comments among friends would be made public.
The apology shows the increased scrutiny Ma is under since Alibaba’s record-breaking US$25 billion initial public offering in September, which helped make him Asia’s richest man. Ma has previously attracted attention with colorful comments about US auction site EBay Inc and caused a "a terrible misunderstanding" with remarks about the 1989 crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
"Ma Yun probably apologised because Alibaba is now a public company and he needs to be more careful," You Na, an analyst at ICBC International Research Ltd, said in Hong Kong, using Ma’s Chinese name. "He’ll probably tone down and become more aware of his words going forward."
JD.com responded by posting a poem on Tencent Holdings Ltd’s WeChat messaging application, saying it would try to be better and let time be the judge.
JD.com will become a tragedy, I reminded everyone of this tragedy from the first day.
"We are aware that a competitor made critical comments about JD.com and has since apologised," JD.com spokesman Josh Gartner said in a text message. "We accept that apology and we continue to be focused on providing China’s best online retail experience."