Alibaba didn’t want Sina Weibo to transform into an e-commerce platform, Jack Ma told Sina Tech after a speech at Stanford on this past weekend, instead they wanted to explore how to help Weibo with e-commerce.
“Now as a shareholder with an 18% stake in Weibo, we’d be better off if Weibo were so. We’d discuss later what it would bring to Alibaba. It’s Sina’s business to make Weibo a success, but we’d support them if there’s anything needed from us. Thinking in this way can help the partnership last. Investment in Weibo is a critical step for Alibaba. I’m very proud I can participate in building Weibo”, he said so. (in Chinese)
Alibaba announced investment in Sina Weibo last week, saying it would work with Sina Weibo “on data, online payments, online marketing and user account connectivity, and explore potential in social e-commerce, according to Alibaba’s statement.”
The investment may be the last big thing in Mr. Ma’s tenure as CEO of Alibaba Group. Per the announcement earlier, he would officially resign on May 10 (the coming Friday) , Taobao’s tenth birthday.
Ma also said he had no plan to return if the company would be in trouble like Liu Chuanzhi, founding leader of Lenovo, did.
image credit: Sina Tech