Chief Executive Officer David Wei and Chief Operating Officer Elvis Lee Shi-Huei were not involved in the rise in fraud but were taking responsibility for the “systemic breakdown” in the company’s “culture of integrity,” Alibaba Chairman and Founder Jack Ma said in a statement (PDF). The company, which is publicly traded, is largely owned by the Alibaba Group.
Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma speaks at a news conference in Beijing
More than 2,300 fraudulent storefronts registered on the site in 2009 and 2010 as “Gold Suppliers,” offering inexpensive electronics for sale to buyers overseas. However, no goods were delivered after payment was received, Ma said. The average buyer claim against fraudulent sites was less than $1,200, he said.
About 100 company sales people out of the company’s approximately 5,000-member staff assisted the storefronts in evading the company’s verification methods, Ma said.
“Our company has determined that the vast majority of these storefronts were set up to intentionally defraud global buyers,” Ma said. “The methods of the perpetrators suggest that they have engineered an organized and systemic attack on the integrity of the Alibaba.com platform for illegal gains.”
An Alibaba Group Holding employee walks in front of the company's operations center in Hangzhou, China.
The departure of David Wei, chief executive, who joined Alibaba in 2006, is a major blow to the reputation of a company that, together with Baidu, the search engine, and Tencent, the social-networking site, has formed an “oligopoly” in the fast-growing Chinese internet, according to the Chinese media.
The developments also raise questions about management oversight at the business-to-business site as it seeks to expand. In addition to Taobao, Alibaba owns Yahoo’s China operations and Alipay.com, an online payment service. Founded in 1999, Alibaba.com has become one of the world’s largest business-to-business platforms in the world, linking sellers of Chinese manufactured goods to millions of wholesalers overseas. The company, which has 53 million registered users worldwide, is about 40% owned by Yahoo.
Here is an internal email to employees–called Alirens by Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma.
Fellow Aliren:
As we have announced today, the B2B board of directors has accepted the resignations of B2B CEO David Wei and COO Elvis Lee. Additionally, former senior VP of B2B HR Kangming Deng has resigned his post as Chief People Officer of Alibaba Group in acceptance of responsibility and will be demoted to a different post.
Several months ago, we discovered that some of our B2B China Gold Supplier (CGS) members were suspected of fraudulent activity. What made it shocking was evidence indicating that certain members of the CGS sales team knowingly allowed, or in some cases even helped, these fraudulent companies join the Alibaba.com marketplace.
We formed a special task force to investigate the situation. According to the preliminary results of a month-long inquiry, we found 1219 CGS (1.1% of all Gold Suppliers) who joined in 2009 and 1107 CGS (0.8% of Gold Suppliers) who joined in 2010 were engaged in fraudulent activity. These fraudsters had joined the Alibaba.com marketplace for the sole purpose of exploiting the platform that we’ve labored to build up over the past 12 years to defraud overseas buyers. At the same time, the investigation confirmed that nearly 100 CGS sales staff knowingly allowed fraudsters to become CGS members so that they could “make their numbers” and receive commission income.
Any tolerance of this type of affront to business ethics and company values is a crime against the rest of our customers and Aliren who remain honest. We must take measures to safeguard the values of Alibaba! All the colleagues who were directly or indirectly involved must be held responsible; more importantly, B2B’s management team must assume primary responsibility. We have already terminated the storefronts of all 2,326 CGS members suspected of fraud, and we have asked law enforcement authorities to assist us in our investigation.
Since the day that Alibaba was established, pursuit of profit has never been our main goal. We have no interest in turning the company into a mere money-making machine. Rather, we have long held firm to our mission of “making it easy to do business anywhere.” When we say “customer first,” we mean that we’d rather sacrifice growth than do anything that would jeopardize our customers’ interests, much less be a part of any blatant fraud.
Over this past month, I’ve experienced a lot of torment, a lot of frustration, a lot of anger…
This is the pain we suffer as we develop, a price that we pay as part of our growth, and it hurts! But we have no choice. It is not possible for us to be mistake-free; we may from time to time commit errors of judgment, but we will absolutely not err by compromising our principles. If we do not face up to reality and find the courage to take painful action, Alibaba will no longer be Alibaba and our pursuit of our 102-year dream and mission will become nothing but a joke!
This world does not need another Internet company, much less another company that can make money;
What this world needs is a company that is more open, more transparent, more sharing, more responsible, more global;
What this world needs is a company that is grounded in society, serves the interests of society, and accepts the responsibilities of society;
What this world needs is a culture, a soul, a belief and an acceptance of obligation. Because these are the only things that will allow us to go further, do better, act with confidence on the challenging path of entrepreneurship.
What comforted me is learning that the overwhelming majority of our CGS sales colleagues upheld their principles in the face of temptation. To these colleagues, I salute you! More importantly, we thank the colleagues who have the courage to stand firm and fight against what is wrong. From their actions we witnessed the courage and power of upholding integrity and principles. In them we see Alibaba’s future and hope! And we need more Aliren like them! Those who do the extraordinary must assume extraordinary responsibilities!
The resignations of David and Elvis are tremendous losses to the company. For me this is extremely sad and hurtful. But I think their willingness as Aliren to step up and accept responsibility is most admirable. On behalf of the company, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the both of them for their unrelenting dedication and contribution to the company.
Fellow Aliren, the B2B board of directors has appointed Jonathan Lu as B2B CEO; the Group has appointed Lucy Peng as Chief People Officer of Alibaba Group. I hope everyone will fully support the work that lies ahead and believe we can make a difference!
This is an era full of promises and an era that no one wants to miss out on. Only through holding onto our ideals and our principles will we be able to become the pride of this era!
If not now? When?
If not me? Who?
Jack Ma
2.21.2011
上千商家涉嫌欺诈 阿里巴巴CEO卫哲引咎辞职
马云刮骨疗毒 阿里两高管卫哲李旭辉引咎辞职 （附马云公开信、卫哲内部邮件）
在发现销售人员帮助创建了欺诈性网店后，全球最大的企业间在线交易平台――阿里巴巴更换了两位高管。阿里巴巴表示，阿里巴巴B2B公司首席执行官卫哲（David Wei）与首席运营官李旭辉（Elvis Lee）已于周一双双辞职，以为“我们公司诚信文化的全面崩溃”负责。
阿里巴巴表示，一项内部调查发现，在其“中国金牌供应商（China Gold Supplier）“中――经过阿里巴巴认证的合法可信的企业，超过2000家参与了对买家的欺诈，且约有100名现场销售人员帮助行骗者逃避了阿里巴巴的稽核措施。
这些涉嫌欺诈的网店成立于2009与2010年，不到这两年间阿里巴巴签约金牌供应商总数的1.1％与0.8％。
更换管理层的严厉回应，突显出电子商务公司多么容易受到下述怀疑的影响：买家能否依赖它们确保供应商的质量与诚信。
阿里巴巴发言人约翰.斯佩里奇（John Spelich）表示：“这让我们非常痛苦。创始人非常痛心。”
阿里巴巴集团（Alibaba Group）未上市消费者电子商务附属企业淘宝（Taobao）的首席执行官陆兆禧（Jonathan Lu）已取代卫哲，出任CEO一职。但他将保留在淘宝的职位。
分析师表示，陆兆禧可以将在淘宝的反欺诈经验用于阿里巴巴。
业内人士表示：“在淘宝，陆兆禧扩大了判断卖家信誉的基准，将用户体验纳入了进来。这也可以用于阿里巴巴。”
阿里巴巴去年公布在网站上发现了欺诈事件，但它此前并没有说有员工参与。在这些问题出现之际，阿里巴巴正在进行积极的扩张。其员工总数去年增加了近三分之一，从1.17万增至近1.4万名。
2010年第三季度，阿里巴巴营收同比增长40％，至14亿元人民币（合2.13亿美元）。截至9月30日，其注册用户数已超过5600万，付费会员超过75万。
阿里巴巴表示，去年一发现问题，该公司就已着手打击欺诈行为，欺诈供应商账户数量已开始下降。
马云公开信
马云：阿里巴巴绝不做赚钱机器各位阿里人：
大家已经看到了公司的公告，董事会已经批准B2B公司CEO卫哲、COO李旭晖引咎辞职的请求，原B2B公司人事资深副总裁邓康明引咎辞去集团CPO，降级另用。
几个月前，我们发现B2B公司的中国供应商签约客户中，部分客户有欺诈嫌疑！而更令人震惊的是，有迹象表明直销团队的一些员工默许甚至参与协助这些骗子公司加入阿里巴巴平台！
为 此，集团迅速成立了专门小组，经过近一个月的调查取证，查实2009、2010年两年间分别有1219家（占比1.1%）和1107家（占比0.8%）的 “中国供应商”客户涉嫌欺诈！骗子公司加入阿里巴巴平台的唯一原因是利用我们十二年来用心血建造的网络平台向国外买家行骗！同时查实确有近百名为了追求高 业绩高收入明知是骗子客户而签约的直销员工！
对于这样触犯商业诚信原则和公司价值观底线的行为，任何的容忍姑息都是对更多诚信客户、更多 诚信阿里人的犯罪！我们必须采取措施捍卫阿里巴巴价值观！所有直接或间接参与的同事都将为此承担责任，B2B管理层更将承担主要责任！目前，全部2326 家涉嫌欺诈的“中国供应商”客户已经全部做关闭处理，并已经提交司法机关参与调查。
阿里巴巴从成立第一天起就从没以追逐利润为第一目标，我们决不想把公司变成一家仅仅是赚钱的机器，我们一直坚守“让天下没有难做的生意”的使命！客户第一的价值观意味着我们宁愿没有增长，也决不能做损害客户利益的事，更不用提公然的欺骗。
过去的一个多月，我很痛苦，很纠结，很愤怒……
但这是我们成长中的痛苦，是我们发展中必须付出的代价，很痛！但是，我们别无选择！我们不是一家不会犯错误的公司，我们可能经常在未来判断上犯错误，但绝对不能犯原则妥协上的错误。
如果今天我们没有面对现实、勇于担当和刮骨疗伤的勇气，阿里将不再是阿里，坚持102年的梦想和使命就成了一句空话和笑话！
这个世界不需要再多一家互联网公司，也不需要再多一家会挣钱的公司；
这个世界需要的是一家更加开放、更加透明、更加分享、更加责任，也更为全球化的公司；
这个世界需要的是一家来自于社会，服务于社会，对未来社会敢于承担责任的公司；
这个世界需要的是一种文化，一种精神，一种信念，一种担当。因为只有这些才能让我们在艰苦的创业中走得更远，走得更好，走得更舒坦。
令 人欣慰的是，这次调查中我们发现绝大多数直销同事面对诱惑坚守住了原则，我很欣慰，在这里向他们致敬！我们更要感谢在面对这类事件中勇于站出来抗争的同事 们，在他们身上我们看到了坚持诚信的勇气和原则的力量。我们看到了阿里的未来和希望！我们需要更多这样的阿里人！成非凡之事者，必须有非凡之担当！
卫哲和李旭晖的辞职是公司巨大的损失，我非常难过和痛心。但我认为作为阿里人，他们敢于担当，愿意承担责任的行为非常值得钦佩。我代表公司，衷心感谢他们对公司付出的不懈努力和贡献。
各位阿里人，B2B董事会任命陆兆禧兼任阿里巴巴B2B公司CEO；集团任命彭蕾兼任集团CPO。希望大家全力配合工作，相信我们可以让自己的公司更与众不同!
这是一个好时代，这是一个谁都不愿错过的时代！坚持理想，坚持原则能让我们成为这个时代中的时代！
If not now？ when?!
If not me？who?!
此时此刻非我莫属
马云
2011.2.21.
卫哲内部邮件:阵痛是必要的
2011年2月21日 18:32各位B2B的同学，
今天B2B董事会批准了我的辞职申请。我申请辞职的原因是我作为CEO没有起到阿里巴巴价值观捍卫者的最重要的职责，反映在2009年和2010年 阿里 巴巴十多万中国供应商中混入了近3000家欺诈分子，对海外买家造成了伤害，尽管已经清除并将其中首恶分子绳之以法，但我作为CEO的失察职责我理应勇于 担当！
我的辞职对公司内外一定震动很大，但我相信这样的震动甚至阵痛是必要的，健康的。没有这样的震动，不足以重新唤醒我们的使命感和价值观，没有这样的阵痛，不足以表明我们为客户第一愿意付出的代价！
我加入阿里巴巴四年多，已经是三年的阿里人，正在走向五年阿里陈！这四五年里，我刻骨铭心的体会到到以客户第一为首要的阿里巴巴的价值观是公司存在 的立 命之本！尽管我们是一家上市公司，但我们不能被业绩所绑架，放弃做正确的事！阿里巴巴公司存在的第一天就不在乎业绩多少，业绩是结果，不是目标！我学习到 作为阿里人要勇敢地面对并承担自己的责任。正是基于对客户第一的使命感，和阿里人为了组织的健康的责任感，我才提出辞职申请。
很难过给同学们写这封信。我难过的不是我个人的得失和荣辱，而是难过没有更早地去和同学们一起捍卫我们最重要的价值观体系，坚持客户第一！坚持诚信！难过的是现在不能和同学们一起去重树我们的价值观，和大家一起去为中小企业的生存和发展做点事了！
我看到了阿里巴巴事业的意义，看到了我们团队的文化，我深深爱着阿里巴巴的事业，深深爱着阿里巴巴的团队。2009年十周年B2B的全体员工会议 上，我 向同学们承诺阿里巴巴是我此生中最后一份事业！我今天虽然辞去B2B CEO一职，但我继续祝福阿里巴巴的事业，祝福阿里巴巴的团队，我会用一段时间来反思和反省，也会用我的方式为阿里巴巴的事业和阿里巴巴的团队，一如既往 的努力！并期待着将来的某一天，能和阿里巴巴的同学们继续我们的事业！
David
2011年2月21日
背景：
卫哲1993年毕业于上海外国语大学，曾就职于普华永道和百安居，2006年加入阿里巴巴集团，担任阿里巴巴B2B公司总裁及阿里巴巴集团执行副总裁。在 2009年度香港上市企业(内资)老总薪酬排行榜中，38岁的他，以6479万港元名列榜首。大他8岁的联想CEO杨元庆，比他少了整整840万港元。
李旭辉来自台湾，并且来自阿里巴巴的竞争对手。他是做销售出身的，2000年底正式加盟阿里巴巴。原来挖他来是为了开拓台湾市场，阿里巴巴实施三个 “B TO C”战略之后，他被调到大陆参与销售培训，后来又被李琪留在大陆参与指挥销售之战至今。李旭辉的职务是中国供应商副总裁，工号730。销售大战初期，李旭 辉负责华东地区，后来负责全国。
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