LINKING MORE AREAS: The Lhasa-Shigatse railway is under construction. Started in 2010, the extension of the Tibetan railway covers 253 km and is estimated to be completed in 2013 (JUE GUO)

Alibaba's New Era

Jack Ma, Chairman and CEO of China's biggest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., said on January 15 that he will step down from the CEO post in May and stay on as chairman.

Ma said he was already "old" in the context of Web companies, which require energy and creativity. As chairman he will focus on Alibaba's corporate strategy and culture.

He believes that it is vital to pass on the baton to people born in the 1970s and the 1980s, given that Alibaba deserves to thrive in a new environment.

Ma expressed optimism about finding the ideal candidate for the CEO position before May 10.

On the financial front, it completed an initial repurchase—worth $7.6 billion—of its own shares from Yahoo Inc., which had once held the largest number of Alibaba's shares.

The company achieved yet another milestone last year after two of its major units—Taobao and its business-to-customer arm Tmall—reached 1 trillion yuan ($160 billion) in combined sales at the end of November 2012.

Profits Plunge

The total net profits of China's securities brokerages slumped 16.4 percent in 2012 because of the country's lackluster stock market.

According to the unaudited financial reports of 116 brokerage firms, profits stood at 32.93 billion yuan ($5.25 billion) last year, said the Securities Association of China on January 16.

In 2012, 99 of these brokerages made profits, accounting for 86.84 percent of the total.

The sharp decline in profits is partly due to the weak performance of China's stock market in 2012, as the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose only 3.17 percent over the year.