Alibaba Chairman Loses 'Partner' Status Over 'Affair Scandal'... Effectively Out of Group Succession

[Asia Economy Reporter Shinwon Yoon] Jiang Pan (蔣凡), CEO of Tmall (天猫) and once considered a potential next chairman of China's Alibaba Group, has been severely disciplined by the company over allegations of a scandal involving an internet celebrity. Analysts say this has significantly weakened his chances in the race for the next chairman position.

According to Chinese media such as Caixin (財新) on the 27th, the results of an internal investigation into CEO Jiang were posted on the company's intranet. While he retained his position as CEO of Alibaba and the e-commerce platform Tmall, he was stripped of his membership in Alibaba Group's Partner Committee. The Partner Committee, which includes founders like Jack Ma (馬雲), is Alibaba Group's core leadership body responsible for deciding business directions and holds the highest authority. This disciplinary action is expected to be quite detrimental to CEO Jiang.

Alibaba Group stated that although there was no evidence of providing unfair benefits to Wang Hong (influencer) Zhang Dayi (張大奕) and her agency Ruhan (如涵), who were suspected of having an inappropriate relationship with CEO Jiang, he was penalized for improperly handling personal matters that severely damaged the company's reputation. As a result, his status as a Partner Committee member was revoked, and the disciplinary action will be recorded in his personnel file.

Due to this disciplinary action, CEO Jiang has been demoted within the group from Senior Vice President (M7) to Vice President (M6) and has agreed to return his entire bonus from last year.

At 35 years old, CEO Jiang was considered a very strong candidate for the next chairman within the group, but since this disciplinary action will be officially recorded in his personnel file, it could hold him back at a critical moment. In other words, analysts believe he has effectively been sidelined in the race for the next chairman.

However, an Alibaba insider told Caixin, "Despite the demotion, Jiang Pan's duties and job assignments will remain unchanged," adding, "Everything will be decided based on future work performance."

Earlier, on the 17th, CEO Jiang's wife warned Zhang Dayi on Weibo, saying, "If you touch my husband again, I will not stay silent," which sparked the scandal allegations. Coincidentally, Alibaba holds a 7.4% stake in Ruhan, Zhang Dayi's agency, leading to speculation in China that Alibaba might have been actively supporting Zhang Dayi's business.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.