Ma leaves the presidency of the Alibaba group

BEIJING (AP) – The founder of the Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, one of the drivers of Chinese retail sales on the Internet, left on Tuesday the presidency of the world's largest e-commerce company at a time of uncertainty in the changing industry by the tariff war between China and the United States.

Ma, one of the wealthiest and most well-known businessmen in China, left office on his 55th birthday, in a succession plan announced last year. It will continue to be part of Alibaba Partnership, a group of 36 people who have the right to appoint the majority of the components of the company's board of directors.

Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 to connect Chinese exporters with US retailers.

Since then, the company changed its focus to serve the growing consumer market in China and expanded to e-banking, entertainment and cloud computing. His domestic business accounted for 66% of his income of 16,700 million dollars in the quarter that ended in June.

Chinese retail sales face a moment of uncertainty over the trade war between Beijing and Washington, which increased the cost of US imports.

The growth of online sales fell to 17.8% in the first half of 2019, coinciding with the slowdown in the country's economic growth, compared to 23.9% in 2018 as a whole.

Alibaba reported a 42% increase in its revenues in the one-year period ending in June to 16,700 million dollars, and its profit grew 145% to 3,100 million. However, the data was slightly below the 51% increase in revenues recorded throughout 2018.

Total goods sold through Alibaba's e-commerce platforms rose 25% last year to $ 853 billion. Its main American rival, Amazon.com Inc., reported total sales of $ 277 billion.