Jack Ma Talks About The Future Of Alibaba In The World Of AI During His Rare Appearance

Ant Group has announced a leadership transition as Cyril Han, the company’s current president and finance chief, will step into the role of CEO starting March 1, 2025. Han will succeed Eric Jing, who will remain chairman of the financial technology giant.

The announcement, shared via an internal email seen by CNBC, reflects Ant Group’s efforts to reignite growth following Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on the tech sector.

Jack Ma's rare appearance

Ant Group, best known for operating Alipay, one of China’s largest payment platforms, revealed the changes during its 20th-anniversary celebrations.

The event also featured remarks from Alibaba and Ant Group founder Jack Ma, marking a rare public appearance.

This event marks Ma's first appearance at an ant Group gathering since the company paused its major IPO plans in Hong Kong and Shanghai in November 2020.

Ma reflected on his generation’s success in leveraging opportunities created by the internet, citing his expectations for "more miracles" over the next 20 years. However, Ma states that the artificial intelligence era over the next 20 years would exceed everyone's imagination.

Following regulatory concerns, Ma stepped back from Ant, pledging to relinquish control early last year.

Alibaba international earnings report

Ant International, a subsidiary of Ant Group, has reported significant growth across its core business segments following its spin-off in March, with its mobile payment platform Alipay+ gaining substantial global traction, according to SCMP.

The company highlighted strong performance across its four main business pillars: Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst, and Embedded Finance.

As of November, Alipay+ had connected over 90 million merchants across 66 markets to 1.6 billion user accounts, a notable increase from 88 million merchants in 57 markets and 1.5 billion users in December of the previous year.

Cross-border transactions via Alipay+ partners tripled in 2024. Meanwhile, WorldFirst, a global B2B payment platform, achieved an annual total payment volume (TPV) of $100 billion.

Antom also demonstrated remarkable growth, nearly doubling its TPV year-over-year from January to November 2024, driven by a significant increase in card processing volumes.