Ant Group has accelerated the pace of reform.
According to a reporter from China Business Daily, on March 19th, Ant Group Chairman and CEO Jing Xiandong issued a letter to all employees announcing a new round of organizational restructuring: Han Xinyi will serve as Ant Group President, fully responsible for digital payment, digital internet, and digital finance business, reporting to Chairman and CEO Jing Xiandong. Ant International, OceanBase, and Ant Technology have established their respective boards of directors to independently face the market.
In the letter from all the staff, Jing Xiandong said that the purpose of this organization upgrade is to further accelerate the pace of reform and promote the three strategies of Ant "AI First", "Alipay dual flywheel" and "accelerating globalization". The adjustment continues Ant's strategy of transforming its organizational structure towards the market and promoting a younger management team, which will further stimulate organizational vitality.
The reporter noticed that, similar to the previous organizational change of Alibaba Group's "1+6+N", after this adjustment, Ant Group has initially formed a "1+3" pattern, with 1 being Ant Group and 3 being Ant International, OceanBase, and Ant Mathematics, which have started independent operations. A senior figure in the payment industry told reporters that dividing into smaller accounting units and strengthening business responsibilities has always been an inevitable trend for many diversified companies in their development process. Based on this inference, it is not ruled out that Ant will have other mature business segments to independently operate in the future.
More new businesses will face the market independently
According to public information, Han Xinyi joined Ant Group as the Senior Director of Investment in May 2014, became the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Ant Group in April 2020, and joined the Board of Directors as an Executive Director in January 2023. Ant said that Han Xinyi has been deeply involved in business for many years and played an important role in Ant Group's strategic decision-making. This time, he became the president of Ant Group and focused on the "Alipay dual flywheel" strategy, which is a natural result.
Since 2022, Alipay has developed two business segments, digital payment and digital interconnection, through a series of reforms. On the basis of strengthening the continuous innovation of payment products, we will focus on the digital needs of Internet users and businesses, and form a new business ecosystem through content and digitalization.
According to the reporter, after this organizational change, Ant Group will have greater strategic investment in Alipay.
In addition to Alipay, Ant's technology and global business have also undergone major adjustments. In recent years, Ant has continuously promoted its technology and globalization strategy, incubating innovative business sectors such as Ant International, OceanBase, and Ant Digital Technology. Jing Xiandong revealed that the three companies have started independent operations and have established separate boards of directors, implementing a CEO responsibility system under the leadership of the board of directors.
Jing Xiandong stated in a letter from all staff that this organizational upgrade is only one of Ant's countless future growth opportunities. He also revealed that there are many emerging businesses incubating and growing within the Ant System, such as healthcare services, sesame credit, and small wallets. In the future, it will create an environment to encourage more new businesses and species to emerge, and independently face the market to create greater value for society.
Emerging talents in technology and globalization
It is worth mentioning that the three innovative business sectors have employed multiple new faces with technological and global backgrounds.
As of the evening of March 19th, the management team page of Ant Group's official website had not been updated according to this adjustment. According to the official website, there is one Executive Vice President, 13 Senior Vice Presidents, and 7 Vice Presidents under Jing Xiandong. In this organizational adjustment, Han Xinyi, the former senior vice president and CFO ranked fourth, was promoted to the position of group president, while Ni Xingjun, the third ranked veteran and former CTO of Ant, was appointed as the chairman of OceanBase and Ant Digital.
Zhao Wenbiao, Vice President of Ant Group and President of the Big Security Business Group, has been appointed as the CEO of Ant Digital. Zhao Wenbiao holds dual doctoral degrees from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Rutgers University in the United States, and has obtained and applied for more than 120 technology patents. He is an authoritative expert in the fields of intelligent risk control and safety technology. According to the letter from all staff, Jiang Guofei, the former head of Ant Mathematics, will no longer serve as the CEO due to personal life and work planning.
OceanBase, which has been operating independently and focusing on database business, still has Yang Bing as its CEO. Yang Bing joined Ant in 2009 and is one of the core contributors to Ant Group's independent research and development technology.
On the side of Ant International, the chairman is led by Jing Xiandong. CEO Yang Peng, previously served as Senior Vice President of Ant and President of Ant International Business Group. It is reported that after joining Ant from Dell Technology, Yang Peng has worked on Alipay for many years, led and promoted the continuous innovation and development of Alipay's digital livelihood services, and has rich industry experience and international vision.
The full staff letter revealed that the three companies have introduced equity incentive tools that better match entrepreneurial organizations and will be granted in 2024, allowing employees to share business development achievements more closely while taking on greater responsibilities. At the same time, Ant will still provide support for the long-term sustainable development of the three companies in terms of corporate governance, technology, risk control, and capital.