Jack Ma will step down as Alibaba CEO on May 10, but will remain chairman of the company.

Ma, who has been the CEO of the e-commerce giant for 14 years, said he will focus on strategic issues and assist his successor to develop the company’s talent and strengthen social responsibility efforts.

“As a founder CEO, stepping down as CEO is a difficult decision, for this could be confounding especially for someone of my age who should be at the height of his career. It’s not because I wanted to take things easy, it’s because I see that Alibaba’s young people have better, more brilliant, dreams than mine, and they are more capable of building a future that belongs to them,” said Ma.

The CEO, aged 48, said at his age, he is no longer young for the internet business and that he is giving opportunity for the next generation of Alibaba people who are far better equipped to manage an internet ‘ecosystem’.

Earlier this month, Alibaba announced it was dividing the company into 25 business units from seven in a bid to better focus on different markets.

“That gave the heads of the individual units a lot more power and independence and reduced the importance of the group CEO, so I see Jack Ma’s move as the natural next step,” observed Analysys principal analyst Li Zhi.

GB