Alibaba closes social science institute that Jack Ma once hoped would exist for 300 years

Alibaba Group Holding has decided to close its Luohan Academy, a social science institute that founder Jack Ma had hoped could exist for 300 years when it was created in June 2018, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The unannounced closure of Luohan Academy, an open research institute with the grand mission of helping solve “some of the world’s most pressing economic and social challenges”, came as part of a sweeping restructuring at Alibaba, the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant that owns the South China Morning Post.

At the same time, parts of the academy’s operations have remained within Alibaba, including the environmental, social and governance research team, according to people familiar with the matter.

Alibaba is breaking up its sprawling business empire into six major groups; Taobao and Tmall, cloud, local services, international commerce, entertainment and Cainiao, as well as a number of smaller business units. Cainiao, the smart logistics network, has filed an initial public offering application in Hong Kong to raise at least US$1 billion.

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As part of the restructuring, resources and people are being deployed to frontline businesses. Eddie Wu Yongming, Alibaba’s new CEO, said in a letter to employees last month that Alibaba will focus on two main themes, “users first” and “artificial intelligence-driven”, as it seeks new growth amid a shifting internet landscape.

Luohan Academy, which sponsored research programmes on topics such as “privacy and data governance”, “measuring the new economy” and “future finance”, has been functioning as an academic institute rather than a revenue-generating business entity, according to insiders. It has published research reports with titles such as Digital Circular Economy for Net Zero.

It was initiated with the support of Ma, who stepped down as Alibaba’s chairman in September 2019, when the Chinese entrepreneur said the move was part of the company’s responsibility to answer certain questions about the impact of technology on society. As such, he hoped the Luohan Academy could continue for 300 years.