Alibaba co-founder and chairman Jack Ma will unveil a succession plan on Monday, the South China Morning Post reported Sunday, with a company spokesman denying a New York Times report that he would retire that day. The SCMP, which is owned by Alibaba, said China's most famous tech billionaire will "unveil a succession strategy" on Monday -- his 54th birthday -- but remain the company's executive chairman for the foreseeable future.

The New York Times ran an article on Friday, based on an interview with Ma, saying the former teacher turned billionaire planned to use his birthday to announce his retirement as chairman of Alibaba to focus on philanthropy. The paper quoted Ma as saying the decision was "the beginning of an era". But an Alibaba spokesman told the SCMP that the New York Times' story "was taken out of context, and factually wrong".