Produced by Leadar Finance. Text by Zhou Hui. Edited by Meng Shuai

The ongoing repercussions from 'Inside the Nail' have prompted Alibaba, now fully immersed in AI, to momentarily pause and address the 'loopholes' left during its transformative journey.

Recently, Teng Yaxin, the former core product manager of DingTalk's ONE project, published a '10,000-word exposé' titled 'Inside the Nail' on Alibaba's internal network. The article recounted the downfall of DingTalk's flagship AI project and unveiled internal management issues within the DingTalk team, swiftly igniting heated debates.

Ma Ruila, the former Vice President of DingTalk and head of AI products, candidly remarked, 'My heart goes out to those who have toiled, struggled, and persevered at DingTalk.'

On June 10th, Alibaba's Partnership Committee posted an article on the internal network, denouncing the management style of the DingTalk team as 'unrepresentative of Alibaba's culture' and underscoring that Alibaba's most invaluable asset is its workforce.

On June 11th, Alibaba announced leadership changes at DingTalk: Chen Hang, the 'architect of DingTalk' who had just rejoined the previous year, stepped down as CEO once again, making way for Chen Yusen, a tech enthusiast born in the 90s, who thus became Alibaba's youngest business division CEO.

It's noteworthy that despite the ultimate discontinuation of DingTalk's ONE project for various reasons, Alibaba's AI momentum continues unabated. According to Alibaba CEO Wu Yongming, Alibaba's comprehensive AI technology investments have entered a virtuous cycle of large-scale commercial returns.

Alibaba's latest financial report reveals that for the quarter ending March 31, 2026, the company's Cloud Intelligence Group revenue soared to 41.626 billion yuan, marking a 38% year-over-year increase. AI-related products contributed 8.971 billion yuan in revenue, achieving triple-digit year-over-year growth for the eleventh consecutive quarter.

10,000-Word Exposé Sparks Widespread Debate, DingTalk Embroiled in 'Internal Strife'

Recently, a 10,000-word article titled 'Inside the Nail' on Alibaba's internal network went viral, sparking widespread discussions among netizens.

The article's author, Teng Yaxin (alias 'Yousu'), the former core product manager of DingTalk's ONE project, reviewed the project's journey from inception to termination and exposed numerous team issues, including intense internal competition, ineffective friction, and a culture of overtime.

After the article's publication, it resonated deeply with Ma Ruila, the former Vice President of DingTalk and head of AI products. On June 8th, Ma Ruila published an article titled 'Outside the Nail' on his personal official account, sharing his reflections after reading the aforementioned '10,000-word exposé.'

Ma Ruila stated, 'My heart goes out to those who have toiled, struggled, and persevered at DingTalk.'

He also pondered the current state of Alibaba's values of 'customer first, employees second, shareholders third': 'When an organization is under extreme pressure, what does 'employees second' truly signify? Does it imply employees are secondary, or should they always yield?'

Additionally, Ma Ruila revealed in the article that he had completed his resignation procedures on May 15th, concluding his three-year tenure at Alibaba and officially departing from DingTalk.

Regarding his resignation, Ma Ruila said, 'I'm increasingly uncertain whether I'm creating products or just exhausting myself to keep pace with constant changes.'

As a former senior executive at DingTalk, Ma Ruila still hopes that Wu Zhao (Chen Hang's alias) can lead DingTalk to regain its former glory, 'but not at the cost of everyone burning out from excessive overtime.'

Amidst the escalating public opinion, Alibaba's core leadership did not remain passive.

On June 10th, Alibaba's Partnership Committee posted an article on the internal network—'With Emotion, Integrity, and Growth, That's Alibaba's Culture'—formally responding to the controversies sparked by 'Inside the Nail.'

The article pointed out that the management style described in 'Inside the Nail' 'has never been advocated by Alibaba's culture and is not what Alibaba's culture should embody.'

'People are Alibaba's most precious asset,' the Alibaba Partnership Committee emphasized. 'Mutual respect, treating people with dignity, and upholding emotion and integrity are the cultural pillars of Alibaba. These must remain unchanged regardless of technological advancements or changing times.'

Simultaneously, the Alibaba Partnership Committee also highlighted that Alibaba's future lies in innovation, which relies not on high pressure and mechanical execution but on the passion and creativity of every Alibaba employee, especially in the AI era.

'Architect of DingTalk' Steps Down Again, 90s Tech Enthusiast Takes the Helm

As 'Inside the Nail' continues to stir controversy, Chen Hang, the founder of DingTalk, has also come under scrutiny.

According to Tianyancha information, DingTalk (China) Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'DingTalk') was established in 2018 and is an enterprise communication and collaborative office platform under Alibaba. Its product suite includes innovative tools like DingTalk ONE, AI Spreadsheets, and Meeting AI.

As the 'architect of DingTalk,' Chen Hang's association with Alibaba began in 1999 when he joined as Alibaba's first intern.

After 2000, Chen Hang worked in Japan, serving as the chief technology architect and product leader for enterprise-level search engine products at Hewlett-Packard Japan.

Around 2010, at the invitation of Alibaba co-founder Wu Yongming, Chen Hang returned to Alibaba and oversaw the development of Taobao's main search and Etao (an e-commerce price comparison platform).

In 2013, Chen Hang became the head of Alibaba's social product 'Laiwang,' but the project failed to challenge WeChat's dominance.

Subsequently, Chen Hang led the team to develop enterprise-level applications and officially launched DingTalk in January 2015. Under his leadership, DingTalk swiftly became China's largest enterprise-level communication application.

In 2017, DingTalk was listed in the '2017 China Unicorn Enterprise Development Report' released by the Ministry of Science and Technology with a valuation of 1.55 billion USD.

In 2019, DingTalk was integrated into the Alibaba Cloud system for the first time. The following year, Zhang Jianfeng, then president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group, proposed the 'Cloud-DingTalk Integration Strategy,' and DingTalk was upgraded to the Greater DingTalk Business Division, fully integrating into Alibaba Cloud. Chen Hang was transferred to serve as Zhang Yong's special assistant.

Due to strategic differences, Chen Hang left to start his own venture in 2021, founding Two Hydrogen One Oxygen (Hangzhou) Digital Technology Co., Ltd.

In 2023, Alibaba launched the '1+6+N' organizational transformation, with DingTalk becoming independent from the Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group and rejoining the group's organizational structure as one of its first batch of strategic-level innovative businesses.

With the advent of the AI era, DingTalk became Alibaba's 'flagbearer' for AI To B. Last March, at the invitation of Wu Yongming, the current CEO of Alibaba Group, Chen Hang officially returned and once again served as CEO of DingTalk.

In August of the same year, DingTalk launched its flagship AI project—DingTalk ONE. As the core focus of DingTalk's foray into the Agent sector, the ONE project featured a proactive AI work information flow that 'finds tasks for people.' In its early stages, the project's DAU peak once exceeded 3 million.

However, amidst the buzz surrounding 'Inside the Nail,' the 'architect of DingTalk' once again 'stepped down.' On June 11th, Alibaba announced leadership changes at DingTalk: Chen Hang stepped down as CEO of DingTalk and was succeeded by Chen Yusen.

Chen Yusen, born in 1992, is a renowned tech enthusiast who has won numerous championships in top computer competitions both domestically and internationally.

At the age of 22, Chen Yusen founded the cybersecurity company Changting Technology, which was later acquired by Alibaba Cloud. In 2025, Chen Yusen started a business within Alibaba Cloud and led the team to develop the AI Agent product MuleRun.

After taking charge of DingTalk, Chen Yusen will become Alibaba's youngest business division CEO.

The 'Failed' DingTalk ONE and Alibaba's Surging AI Wave

Before Chen Hang's 'departure,' the AI project he championed, DingTalk ONE, had already 'failed' ahead of schedule.

According to Jinzhao News, the author of 'Inside the Nail' summarized the failure of DingTalk ONE from dimensions such as product positioning, implementation design, internal management, and industry competition.

In terms of product positioning, ONE had conflicting goals from the outset: it aimed to reduce employee workload through AI while also pursuing multiple objectives such as exploring DingTalk's commercialization, implementing the group's AI strategy, and showcasing management's business acumen.

During the product implementation phase, the project unexpectedly achieved positive results in standardized employment scenarios like cleaning and security but was shelved due to misalignment with top-level strategic planning.

In the product design phase, the ONE project's feature of automatically marking messages as read once triggered significant resistance from many frontline users and was dubbed 'read receipt terrorism' by internal practitioners.

Although the team subsequently introduced various optimizations, the underlying rules remained unchanged. Additionally, the lack of PC-end adaptation contradicted the actual usage habits of the main workforce in office computing. The distraction caused by the news feed further reduced product retention.

Simultaneously, internal management mechanisms were also significant constraints on project implementation. The rapid iteration system of 'one package per day' created heavy technical debt. Strict morning and evening meeting systems and performance evaluation systems strongly tied to attendance left employees overworked. The project's high confidentiality also significantly increased cross-departmental communication costs.

In terms of industry competition, DingTalk focused too much on conceptual packaging, with the implementation of its grand product framework lagging behind demo demonstration effects. When benchmarking against competitors' dynamics, the internal team easily fell into a situation of all employees working overtime to keep pace and relying on working hours to compensate for shortcomings, neglecting the refinement of product logic.

Ultimately, under company strategic adjustments, resources for the ONE project were gradually shifted to Wukong Agent, and the former flagship AI project was downgraded to a side feature.

However, the 'failure' of DingTalk ONE is merely a blip in Alibaba's AI wave, as the group continues to forge ahead on its 'All in AI' path.

On June 8th, Alibaba announced the merger of the Tongyi Large Model Business Division and the Future Living Lab to form the Token Foundry Business Division.

The newly established business division will be led by group CEO Wu Yongming personally. At the same time, Zhou Jingren, the head of the Tongyi large model, was promoted to Chief Scientist and will lead the establishment of the Alibaba AI Future Research Institute, focusing on exploring next-generation architectures.

Some analysts believe that AI is currently Alibaba's highest-priority strategic direction. With the CEO personally leading the new business division, it means that resource allocation, financial investments, and cross-business coordination can now all be swiftly decided at the highest level of the group.

Additionally, at the commercialization level, Alibaba's AI strategy has also made significant strides. Wu Yongming stated that Alibaba's comprehensive AI technology investments have officially moved beyond the initial cultivation stage and entered a virtuous cycle of large-scale commercial returns.

According to Alibaba's latest financial report, for the quarter ending March 31, 2026, the company's Cloud Intelligence Group revenue reached 41.626 billion yuan, marking a 38% year-over-year increase. Among this, external commercial revenue growth accelerated to 40% year-over-year.

Alibaba stated in the financial report that this growth momentum was primarily driven by increased revenue from public cloud services, including the increased adoption of AI-related products. AI-related products contributed 8.971 billion yuan in revenue for the quarter, achieving triple-digit year-over-year growth for the eleventh consecutive quarter.

After weathering the 'internal strife,' what kind of future awaits Alibaba and DingTalk? Leadar Finance will continue to follow the story.