Joseph Tsai, the co-founder and executive vice chairman of Alibaba, will become the new chairman of the Chinese e-commerce giant in September. Tsai is known for his interest and investment in crypto, which could signal a positive outlook for the industry in China.
About Joseph Tsai
Joseph Tsai is one of the co-founders of Alibaba, along with Jack Ma and others. He joined the company in 1999 as its chief financial officer and has been instrumental in its growth and expansion.
He currently serves as the executive vice chairman overseeing Alibaba’s strategic investments and acquisitions.
Tsai is also a crypto enthusiast and investor. He tweeted, “I like crypto” in 2021 and has backed several crypto projects through his family office, Blue Pool Capital.
He invested in FTX, a leading crypto exchange, and participated in the funding rounds of Shibuya, a Web3 video platform, and other crypto startups.
Tsai has a net worth of $13.5 billion, according to Forbes. In addition to being a sports fan, he owns the Brooklyn Nets NBA team and the New York Liberty WNBA team.
Alibaba’s Leadership Transition and Challenges
Tsai will succeed Daniel Zhang as the chairman of Alibaba on September 10, 2023. Zhang will continue to serve as the company’s CEO.
Alibaba also announced that Eddie Yongming Wu, the current chairman of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, will become the new CEO.
The leadership change comes at a challenging time for Alibaba, which has faced regulatory scrutiny, antitrust probes, and fines from the Chinese government.
The company’s share price has declined by more than 40% in the past year due to market turmoil and increased competition.
Tsai’s appointment could bring stability and optimism to Alibaba, as the company’s stakeholders and regulators widely respected and trusted him. He has negotiated with the authorities and resolved some of the issues that Alibaba faced.
His appointment could also have positive implications for the crypto industry in China, which has been under pressure from the government’s crackdown on mining, trading, and innovation.
Tsai’s influence and connections could foster a more favorable crypto development and adoption environment in China. The crypto enthusiast has expressed his belief in the potential of crypto and Web3 to transform the internet and society.
In an interview with CNBC in 2021, he said that he sees crypto as “a very interesting social experiment” and is “very intrigued by what’s going on.”
