For those outside of China, the name Pinduoduo may have drawn a blank. Yet the upstart, formally known as PDD Holdings, has been surging in popularity for years, winning over customers in the domestic e-commerce market with a range of innovations. It’s also the company behind the hit shopping app Temu in the US, which has gone from zero to rivalling Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc in just more than a year. After Ma’s comments, PDD’s market valuation climbed above Alibaba’s for the first time ever, a seismic shift for an industry that has been dominated for more than a decade by the house that Jack built.
Jack Ma essentially invented the e-commerce business in China by co-founding Alibaba Group Holding and steering it to the top of the country’s private sector. But a couple weeks ago, the celebrated entrepreneur called out a little-known rival for outpacing his brainchild and becoming a role model for the tech industry.
“Congratulations to Pinduoduo for their decision-making, execution and efforts of the past years,” Ma wrote on an internal forum, prodding Alibaba’s 220,000-plus employees to “correct its course.”
