Cramer: Jack Ma has an existential crisis

Jack Ma, Alibaba Group Holdings (NYSE: BABA)'s chairman, has an existential crisis, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Friday.

"Here's a guy [Ma] who says, 'We're not as strong as we think,' " Cramer said on CNBC's " Squawk on the Street " on Friday. "I wanted to contrast that with [Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO] Elon Musk, who said, 'We are much stronger that you think.' "

Cramer made his remarks after Ma released a statement through his personal microblog telling his employees not to expect cash-filled red envelopes on the eve of the lunar holiday, a Chinese tradition.

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"In the past year, Alibaba Group has not had exceptional results and not had any special surprises," he said. "The success of becoming listed should not be a surprise, as it was the result of all of Alibaba's employees' work over 15 years."

Alibaba's stock was up about one percent at the opening bell Friday. (Click here (NYSE: BABA) to see what the stock is doing now.)

Cramer added that China is also weaker than people think. "Everybody in China is having bad numbers," he said. "We could say that about Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU).... The problem is that we have come to believe that China may not be importing as much iron or steel, but the domestic economy is better than expected."