Jack Ma to Step Down as Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma, the executive chairman of e-commerce website Alibaba, has announced his plans to step down in a year. The company announced that Chief Executive Daniel Zhang will become executive chairman on Sept. 10, 2019. Ma will remain a director on Alibaba's board until its 2020 annual br shareholder meeting. Letter from Jack Ma to Alibaba customers and shareholders Alibaba reported revenues of $39 billion for the March 2018 fiscal year.