Jack Ma, who founded e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and helped to launch China's online retailing boom, announced Monday that he will step down as the company's chairman next September. In a letter released by Alibaba, Ma said he will be succeeded by CEO Daniel Zhang. Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 in an apartment in the eastern city of Hangzhou to connect Chinese suppliers with foreign retailers. It expanded into consumer retailing, online finance and other services, becoming the world's biggest e-commerce company by total value of goods sold across all its platforms. Ma became one of the world's richest entrepreneurs and one of China's best-known business figures.

Source: CBC News September 10, 2018 01:41 UTC