Whatever the country, whatever the culture, whatever the time, when you become a big enough organization, you start to collapse and slow down.

But a big paradigm shift is staring us in the face. If I left things to someone else despite having my own thoughts on it, I wouldn't be true to myself.

Our proposal had more than just money. We would increase their staff and keep their headquarters, their brand and their management in place. We made them a comprehensive offer they couldn't refuse. Shareholders simply receive cash, but with the staff and management, we had to show that we could share the same vision. Employees would probably resent us if money were all [we offered].

Jack's [Ma Yun ] theory is that whoever controls data controls the world.

Whatever the country, whatever the culture, whatever the time, when you become a big enough organization, you start to collapse and slow down.

I would say that hardware is the bone of the head, the skull. The semiconductor is the brain within the head. The software is the wisdom and data is the knowledge.

If something happened, like engineers starting to quit, things would go downhill fast.