阿里巴巴集團創始人、董事局主席馬云公開信
Letter from Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group 
教師節快樂！：)
Happy Teachers’ Day!
各位阿里巴巴的客戶、阿里人、阿里巴巴的股東們：
Dear Alibaba customers,
Aliren, and shareholders,
今天是阿里巴巴19周年。我懷著激動的心情向大家宣布：經董事會批準，一年后的今天，也就是2019年9月10日，阿里巴巴20周年，我將不再擔任阿里巴巴集團董事局主席，現任阿里巴巴集團CEO張勇(逍遙子)將接任董事局主席一職。我從今日起會全面配合張勇，為我們的組織過渡做好準備。在2019年9月10日之后，我將繼續擔任阿里巴巴集團董事會成員，直至2020年阿里巴巴年度股東大會。
Today, as we mark the 19th
anniversary of Alibaba, I am excited to share some news with you: with the
approval of our board of directors, one year from today on September 10, 2019
which also falls on Alibaba’s 20th anniversary, Group CEO Daniel Zhang will
succeed me as chairman of the board of Alibaba Group. While remaining as
executive chairman in the next 12 months, I will work closely with Daniel to
ensure a smooth and successful transition. Thereafter, I will stay on the
Alibaba board of directors until our annual shareholders meeting in 2020.
這是我深思熟慮、認真準備了10年的計劃，今天得以實現，要感謝阿里巴巴合伙人的認同，感謝阿里巴巴董事局的批準，也要感謝所有阿里巴巴的同事們以及他們的家人，正因為過去19年大家對我的信任、支持和共同努力，讓我們有足夠的自信和能力迎接這一天。這標志著阿里巴巴完成了從依靠個人特質變成依靠組織機制、依靠人才文化的企業制度升級。
I have put a lot of thought
and preparation into this succession plan for ten years. I am delighted to
announce the plan today thanks to the support of the Alibaba Partnership and
our board of directors. I also want to offer special thanks to all Alibaba
colleagues and your families, because your trust, support and our joint
enterprise over the past 19 years have prepared us for this day with confidence
and strength.
This transition demonstrates that
Alibaba has stepped up to the next level of corporate governance from a company
that relies on individuals, to one built on systems of organizational
excellence and a culture of talent development.
1999年，和大家一起創辦阿里巴巴的時候，我們矢志建立一家讓中國和世界驕傲的公司，讓公司能夠持久發展102年。我們知道誰都不可能陪伴公司102年，公司持久發展靠的是治理制度、文化體系和源源不斷的人才梯隊，公司不可能只靠幾個創始人，更何況我深知從能力、精力和體力的角度，任何人都不可能永遠擔任公司的CEO和董事長工作。10年前我們就問自己這個問題，如何保證馬云離開公司以后，阿里巴巴依然健康發展？我們相信只有建立一套制度，形成一套獨特的文化，培養和鍛煉出一大批人才的接班人體系，才能解開企業傳承發展的難題。為此，這十年來，我們從未停止過努力和實踐。
When Alibaba was founded in 1999,
our goal was to build a company that could make China and the world proud and
one that could cross three centuries to last 102 years. However, we all knew
that no one could stay with the company for 102 years. A sustainable Alibaba
would have to be built on sound governance, culture-centric philosophy, and
consistency in developing talent. No company can rely solely on its founders.
Of all people, I should know that. Because of physical limits on one’s ability
and energy, no one can shoulder the responsibilities of chairman and CEO
forever.
We asked ourselves this
question 10 years ago – how could Alibaba achieve sustainable growth after Jack
Ma leaves the company? We believed the only way to solve the problem of
corporate leadership succession was to develop a system of governance based on
a unique culture and mechanisms for developing consistent talent and
successors. For the last 10 years, we kept working on these ingredients.
我受的教育讓我成為一名教師，能夠走到今天我非常幸運。為公司未來負責也為自己負責，應該讓公司里更年輕、更有能力和才華的人來擔任領導工作，繼續傳承“讓天下沒有難做的生意”這個偉大的使命。我們幫助全世界的中小企業、年輕人、婦女發展的使命和愿景讓我們激動不已，這是我們的初心，也是我們的福報和責任，真正相信并實現這樣的使命就需要更多馬云、數代阿里人去為之奮斗。
Having been trained as a
teacher, I feel extremely proud of what I have achieved. Teachers always want
their students to exceed them, so the responsible thing to do for me and the
company to do is to let younger, more talented people take over in leadership
roles so that they inherit our mission “to make it easy to do business
anywhere.” Carrying out this mission in order to help small businesses, young
people and women around the world is my passion. This is not only our intent
from day one, but I feel blessed to have this opportunity. To realize the dream
behind this mission requires participation by a lot more people than just Jack
Ma and persistent effort by generations of Aliren.
今天的阿里巴巴最了不起的不是它的業務、規模和已經取得的成績，最了不起的是我們已經變成了一家真正使命愿景驅動的企業。我們創建的新型合伙人機制，我們獨特的文化和良將如潮的人才梯隊，為公司傳承打下堅實的制度基礎。事實上，自2013年我交棒CEO開始，我們已經靠這樣的機制順利運轉了5年。
Alibaba is amazing not
because of our business or scale or accomplishments. The best thing about
Alibaba is that we come together under a common mission and vision. Our
partnership system, unique culture and talented team have laid a strong
foundation for the legacy of our company. In fact, since I handed over the
CEO’s responsibilities in 2013, the company has run smoothly for five years on
the back of these institutional ingredients.
我們創建的合伙人機制創造性地解決了規模公司的創新力問題、領導人傳承問題、未來擔當力問題和文化傳承問題。這幾年來，我們不斷研究和完善我們的制度和人才文化體系，單純靠人或制度都不能解決問題，只有制度和人、文化完美結合在一起，才能讓公司健康持久發展。我深信，今天阿里巴巴合伙人制度和阿里巴巴所捍衛的文化，假以時日，將會越來越贏得客戶、員工和股東的支持和擁護。
The partnership system we
developed is a creative solution to good governance and sustainability, as it
overcomes several challenges faced by companies of scale: continuous
innovation, leadership succession, accountability and cultural
continuity. Over the years, in iterating our management model, we have
experimented with and improved on the right balance between systems and
individuals. Simply relying on individuals or blindly following a system will
not solve our problems. To achieve long-term sustainable growth, you need the
right balance among system, people and culture. I have full confidence that our
partnership system and efforts to safeguard our culture will in time win over
the love and support from customers, employees and shareholders.
1999年創始之日起，我們就提出未來的阿里巴巴必須要有“良將如潮”的人才團隊和迭代發展的接班人體系。經過19年的努力，今天的阿里巴巴無論是人才的質量和數量都堪稱世界一流。作為教師出身的我，看到我們今天的團隊、領導群體、以使命價值觀驅動的獨特文化，以及不斷涌現出的一大批以張勇為代表的杰出商業領袖和專業人才，我深感自豪！
Since the founding of the company
in 1999, we have been of the view that Alibaba’s future will need to depend on
“droves of talent” to enable us to iterate on our management succession plans.
After years of hard work, today’s Alibaba has a world-class talent pool in
quality and quantity. The teacher in me feels extremely proud of our team, our
leadership and our unique mission-driven culture, as well as the fact that we
continue to develop exceptional business leaders and professional talent like
Daniel Zhang.
張勇加入阿里巴巴已經十一年，自擔任阿里巴巴集團CEO以來，展現出了卓越的商業才華和堅定沉著的領導力，連續13季度實現阿里巴巴業績健康持續增長。他具有超級計算機般的邏輯和思考能力，堅信使命愿景，勇于擔當，全情投入，敢于站在未來創新設計新型商業模式和業態。他被評為中國2018年最佳CEO排名第一，這份榮譽當之無愧！他和他的團隊已經贏得了客戶、員工和股東們的信任和支持。阿里巴巴的接力火炬交給他和他領導的團隊，我認為這是我現在最應該做的最正確決定。這幾年我和張勇的合作配合經歷，讓我對他和他領導的新一代阿里巴巴領導團隊充滿信心！
Daniel has been with Alibaba
Group for 11 years. Since he took over as CEO, he has demonstrated his superb
talent, business acumen and determined leadership. Under his stewardship,
Alibaba has seen consistent and sustainable growth for 13 consecutive quarters.
His analytical mind is unparalleled, he holds dear our mission and vision, he embraces
responsibility with passion, and he has the guts to innovate and test creative
business models. Deservedly, China’s business news media has named him the No.1
CEO in 2018. For these reasons, he and his team have won the trust and support
of customers, employees and shareholders. Starting the process of passing the
Alibaba torch to Daniel and his team is the right decision at the right time,
because I know from working with them that they are ready, and I have complete
confidence in our next generation of leaders.
關于我自己未來的發展，我還有很多美好的夢想。大家知道我是閑不住的人，除了繼續擔任阿里巴巴合伙人和為合伙人組織機制做努力和貢獻外，我想回歸教育，做我熱愛的事情會讓我無比興奮和幸福。再說了，世界那么大，趁我還年輕，很多事想試試，萬一實現了呢？！我可以向大家承諾的是，阿里從來不只屬于馬云，但馬云會永遠屬于阿里。
As for myself, I still have lots
of dreams to pursue. Those who know me know that I do not like to sit idle. I
plan on continuing my role as the founding partner in the Alibaba Partnership
and contribute to the work of the partnership. I also want to return to
education, which excites me with so much blessing because this is what I love to
do. The world is big, and I am still young, so I want to try new things –
because what if new dreams can be realized?!
The one thing I can promise
everyone is this: Alibaba was never about Jack Ma, but Jack Ma will forever
belong to Alibaba.
馬云
Jack Ma
2018年9月10日
September 10, 2018
