Preface
On Teacher's Day in 2019, "Jack Ma", the founder of a generation of Internet giant Alibaba, retired with honor, and his chic and heroic spirit seemed to verify the high-minded personality of "he is not interested in money".
From an ordinary English teacher to the founder of the Jack Ma era, Alibaba, founded by Jack Ma, has not only changed the pattern of e-commerce, but also injected new vitality into China's economy.
However, such a legendary figure has been named many times by the national regulatory authorities, and now the three "crimes" shrouded in Ma Yun's head have torn off his mask of "hypocrisy" and made this former "mythical" figure completely fall off the altar.
So what is it that puts Jack Ma in such a predicament? Does he have a chance to regain his former glory?
The money code under the image of the "saint".
Jack Ma, an entrepreneur once known as the "saint of business", is now in unprecedented trouble.
Looking back on Jack Ma's entrepreneurial journey, he initially gave people the impression that he was a "literati" who was not too interested in money.
In interviews, he always emphasizes that he "doesn't care about money" and "just wants to do something meaningful", and this kind of idealistic remarks suddenly made Ma Yun have a "saint" image in the eyes of the public.
However, it is not difficult to find that Alibaba, founded by Jack Ma, has never been inseparable from money and capital operation.
From the initial online store, to the gradual expansion into e-commerce, finance, logistics and other fields, Alibaba does not need a lot of financial support.
Especially in 2020, when Jack Ma's Ant Financial was about to land in the capital market, it caused a sensation in the entire financial industry, with a financing scale of up to trillions of yuan, highlighting Jack Ma's ambition and pursuit of money.
However, at this critical moment, the national regulatory authorities suddenly halted Ant Group's listing plan, which undoubtedly gave Ma Yun a blow to the head and caused a huge shock.
Behind the suspension of Ant Financial's listing, there are some little-known secrets.
It is reported that behind this may also involve the intervention of some external forces in an attempt to gain benefits.
Indeed, as a Chinese Internet company, the largest shareholder is Japan's SoftBank, which is inextricably linked to American capital.
When you think about the current complex international situation, such a capital structure is tantamount to handing over the lifeblood to someone else, which makes people sit on the back.
In addition, it is not difficult to find that on the surface, Ant Financial is a technology company, but in fact it is a lending institution under the banner of finance, and it has leveraged more than 2 trillion loans with only 20 billion yuan.
This approach is very similar to the actions of the financial institutions that led to the US loan crisis in 2008, and if this financial bubble bursts, it is likely that the economic crisis of that year will be repeated.
Such unknown secrets all show the huge ambition of Ant Financial, and as its founder, Jack Ma's aura of "saint" is also overshadowed.
Some people say that Ma Yun just wants to use his influence to expand his business empire, but for ordinary people, this kind of behavior is undoubtedly an infringement on their own interests, after all, no one wants their "money bags" to be touched by others at will.
"Monopoly"
Once upon a time, Alibaba, founded by Jack Ma, was regarded as a leader in the domestic e-commerce field, and its slogan of "worry-free in the world" was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
However, as the internet giant continues to expand, its pursuit of profits has also raised some social problems that cannot be ignored.
Most prominently, when Alibaba promotes community group buying and new retail business, it is ignoring the rights and interests of small and medium-sized merchants.
As an Internet company with strong capital and technical strength, Ali naturally has unique advantages, but unfortunately, in the process of expansion, it often inadvertently infringes on some of its original business interests.
For example, in the field of community group buying, Taobao Deals, a subsidiary of Alibaba, quickly seized market share by virtue of its huge capital and user traffic advantages.
But at the same time, it has also brought a huge impact to some of the original small community shops, making it difficult for many small and medium-sized shops to survive.
For these affected merchants, they not only face threats to their livelihoods, but also have to face all kinds of pressure from big platforms.
Another example is in the field of new retail, Alibaba has created new retail formats that integrate online and offline such as Hema.
Although the shopping experience has been greatly improved, the emergence of these new retail stores with strong financial advantages also means the almost extinction of traditional small supermarkets and convenience stores, and many time-honored small shops are facing irresistible competitive pressure without preparation.
In addition, Alibaba also implements the "overlord clause" of "either-or" on e-commerce platforms, which requires merchants to only operate on Alibaba's platform, and on other platforms it is a breach of contract.
For those merchants who choose to go along with it, Alibaba will use big data and algorithms to give merchants greater exposure and preferential policies;
But for those merchants who are unwilling to go along with it, Alibaba will use the same means to suppress them, and this kind of behavior also highlights Alibaba's ambition to "monopolize the market".
In December 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation launched an anti-monopoly investigation against Alibaba, which proved that Alibaba had indeed abused its dominant market position, so Alibaba also set a record for China's highest anti-monopoly fine of 18.228 billion yuan.
In December 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation interviewed internet platforms such as Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com, and explicitly asked them to regulate their business practices.
From the "altar" to the ordinary
The success of an enterprise lies not only in its own business growth, but also in how it takes into account the interests of all aspects of society in the process of development, and for industry giants like Alibaba, its social responsibility should naturally be more significant and far-reaching.
But unfortunately, in reality, it is difficult to see any substantive measures in this regard.
Compared with the previous business wizard Jack Ma, who frequently appeared on various occasions, he now chooses to live in seclusion, away from the focus of the media.
When we learn to look at the life of these entrepreneurs with a more rational attitude, they may also be able to really come down from the "altar" and return to the ordinary, which undoubtedly requires each of us to reflect on ourselves and rethink our stereotypes and expectations for entrepreneurs.
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