Alibaba restores fallen star Jiang Fan in partnership as e-commerce growth takes precedence

Jiang, who lost his place in Alibaba’s influential partnership in April 2020 after an alleged extramarital affair, has been reinstated
The ‘post-80s’ executive is expected to help steer Alibaba’s e-commerce business through intensifying competition amid a sweeping group restructuring

Alibaba

Tracy Quin Shanghai

Published: 7:00pm, 24 Jul 2023

Why you can trust SCMP

Jiang Fan, the 37-year-old CEO of Alibaba Group Holding’s international business unit, has cemented his status as one of the e-commerce giant’s most promising executives with his return as the youngest member of its partnership – a supreme corporate governance body with the right to nominate directors.

Jiang, the only Alibaba partner under 40, is widely regarded as the firm’s answer to other “post-80s” executives such as PDD Holdings founder Colin Huang Zheng. Jiang is set to take on bigger roles in the future, as Alibaba fights to defend its turf amid intensifying competition against PDD and JD.com, analysts said.

01:53

Alibaba names co-founder Joe Tsai chairman, in surprise shake-up as Daniel Zhang steps down

Jiang was originally kicked out of the partnership in April 2020 after the firm launched an investigation into his alleged extramarital affair that turned into a major public relations crisis for Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post.

At the time, a woman believed to be Jiang’s wife turned to Weibo to publicly warn a social media influencer not to “mess with” her husband. The debacle also led to the demotion of Jiang from his role as president of Alibaba’s domestic retail platforms Taobao and Tmall, the company’s largest cash cows.

Jiang stayed low for seven months before being appointed as head of the company’s overseas e-commerce operations in December 2020.

He was able to redeem himself in that role, delivering 29 per cent revenue growth in Alibaba’s international e-commerce business in the most recent March quarter, far exceeding the 2 per cent sales increase in the entire company.

The logo of Alibaba Group lit up at its office building in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Jiang’s reinstatement into Alibaba’s partnership, which counts co-founders Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai as permanent members, was well expected, said Arch Pei, an independent internet analyst previously with Sinolink Securities.

In addition to overseeing Alibaba’s overseas businesses such as Lazada, AliExpress and Trendyol, Jiang is also a board director at Taobao and Tmall Group and logistics arm Cainiao, two of the six Alibaba businesses that are becoming separate entities under the group’s sweeping restructuring plan.

Jiang’s business acumen and leadership capabilities are highly important to Alibaba’s battle in China’s heated e-commerce race, according to Zhang Yi, CEO of research firm iiMedia. “The return of Jiang will help Alibaba take a step towards the second and third development stage of the enterprise,” Zhang said.

An advertisement for the 618 shopping event on Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform at a subway station in Shanghai. Photo: Bloomberg

The decision also shows that Alibaba is willing to put Jiang’s imperfect track record in personal issues behind it and focus on the company’s future growth, according to Zhang.

Alibaba established its partnership system in 2020 to enhance succession planning and avoid “key man risk”. The 28-person body includes executives who have worked at Alibaba for at least five years, with a “high standard of personal character and integrity” and “consistent commitment to … [the company’s] mission, vision and values”.

The partners have the exclusive right to nominate a simple majority of Alibaba’s board of directors, subject to shareholder approval during the annual general meeting. That means at any one time, the company’s senior executives can hand-pick most of Alibaba’s board of directors.