Letter from all Zhang Yong: Alibaba Cloud will be spun off and listed in the next 12 months

On May 18th, NetEase Technology reported that Zhang Yong, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, announced in a letter from all members that Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group will be spun off and listed, and will create a world-class technology company.The letter mentioned that Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group will introduce external strategic investors

On May 18th, NetEase Technology reported that Zhang Yong, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, announced in a letter from all members that Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group will be spun off and listed, and will create a world-class technology company.

The letter mentioned that Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group will introduce external strategic investors. This measure is seen as a new starting point for Alibaba Cloud's future secondary entrepreneurship, which can further strengthen business strategy, optimize organization and operations.

Zhang Yong raised expectations for all employees of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, including cherishing customer trust, adhering to technological ideals, and maintaining an entrepreneurial mindset. Recently, Alibaba Cloud has launched a series of new measures aimed at expanding the number of public cloud customers and cloud usage scale, and meeting the computing power growth required by the AI big model wave.

According to the latest financial report, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence achieved two consecutive years of profitability in the 2023 fiscal year, with a total revenue of 77.203 billion yuan and an adjusted EBITA profit of 1.422 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24%.

Start again, start again

Dear classmates of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence,

This year is the 14th year of Alibaba Cloud's birth. On September 11, 2009, at Alibaba Cloud's first staff meeting, Dr. Wang Jian proposed three important technical judgments for the future - the Internet is infrastructure, data centers become computers, and computing becomes public services. Alibaba Cloud starts from this.

For fourteen years, we have witnessed the realization and consensus of past prophecies. Today, Alibaba Cloud has become the first public cloud service provider in Asia and the top three in the world, and is moving from the digital era to the intelligent era. This is the best evidence of long-term ism and also the best example of 'seeing because you believe'.

Standing at a new historical starting point, I also want to share with you an important decision in the development of Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group:

Given the significant differences in business model, customer characteristics, and development stage between Cloud Intelligence Group and most of Alibaba Group's consumer internet businesses, we plan to completely split Cloud Intelligence Group from Alibaba Group and complete its listing in the next 12 months, forming a new company completely independent of Alibaba Group in terms of equity and corporate governance. Meanwhile, Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group will introduce external strategic investors.

The spin off is for better development and is a new beginning for Alibaba Cloud's future secondary entrepreneurship. In the future, Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group can face the market more independently, further strengthen business strategy, optimize organization and operation. This also requires us to have a more entrepreneurial mindset, take on more responsibilities, and better balance the relationship between short-term growth anxiety and long-term development goals, so that we have the opportunity to jointly build a world-class technology company.

Achieving such a goal requires the joint efforts of all Alibaba Cloud intelligent students. I also raise three expectations for everyone here:

Firstly, cherish customer trust. Customer trust is the lifeline of Alibaba Cloud. Only by winning the trust and respect of customers can they always be with us and grow together. This is also an important consideration that I place "stability" and "safety" before "performance" and "cost" in my requirements for the technical team.

Secondly, adhere to technological ideals. The endless pursuit of progressiveness technology is the gene flowing in Alibaba Cloud's blood. In the past, we have built China's only self-developed Feitian Cloud operating system from scratch. In the future, we hope to continue innovating in cloud computing and AI models, pursuing competition with world-class players, and truly becoming a world-class technology company.

Thirdly, maintain an entrepreneurial mindset. After becoming an independent company, we will face more new challenges, and our organization and business will also face the baptism of the market. This requires every Alibaba Cloud intelligent student to fully unleash their passion and creativity, seek truth and pragmatism, and strive for excellence, in order to achieve the sustainable development of the company and individuals.

In the past few months, both the external environment and Alibaba itself, we have experienced many significant changes together and witnessed many important moments happening. I firmly believe that we are walking on the right path.

If the road is blocked and long, then it will arrive. A new starting point and a new journey, let's start again and start again together!

Zhang Yong (Xiaoyaozi)

Chairman and CEO of the Board of Directors of Alibaba Group

Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group

May 18, 2023