Jack Ma Yun, a Chinese entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, was born on September 10, 1964. He is a co-founder of the global technology firm Alibaba Group. Ma is also a founding partner of the Chinese private equity firm Yunfeng Capital. With a net worth of $34.5 billion as of June 2023, Ma is the 39th wealthiest person in the world and the fourth wealthiest person in China (after Zhong Shanshan, Zhang Yiming, and Ma Huateng), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Ma, who was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, graduated from Hangzhou Normal University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in English. After graduating, he started teaching English and international commerce at Hangzhou Dianzi University. He started his first firm in 1994 after becoming interested in the development of the internet industry, only to later found a second one after learning more about the internet and the possible commercial business opportunities that might be derived from its burgeoning expansion. Between 1998 and 1999, he left China Telecommunications Corporation, and in 1999, he and his colleagues founded the Alibaba Group.
The business started out as a B2B e-commerce marketplace website but eventually diversified into a wide range of industrial sectors, including high-tech, e-commerce, and online payment solutions.
Ma came in at number two on Fortune's yearly ranking of the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders" in 2017. He is still a powerful presence in the Chinese business community and startup sector, and is often regarded as a de facto informal worldwide ambassador in Chinese business circles. He stated in September 2018 that he will leave Alibaba and devote his time to environmental, philanthropic, and educational initiatives. Daniel Zhang took over as executive chairman the next year. He launched Ant Group, a provider of digital payment solutions, after he made a speech criticising Chinese financial authorities for placing an undue emphasis on minimising risk. In 2020, the Chinese government halted preparations for an IPO for Ant Group.
Ma was included in Forbes Magazine's list of "Asia's 2019 Heroes of Philanthropy" in 2019 in recognition of his charitable and humanitarian efforts in favour of impoverished populations in China, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. With a wealth of $48.4 billion USD, Jack Ma was placed 26th on the "2021 Forbes Global Rich List" in April 2021. With a total financial gift of 3.22 billion yuan, Jack Ma's Alibaba Group topped the 2021 China Charity List in July of that year.
Early Life And Education
Ma Yun was born on September 10, 1964 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. When he was a small child, he developed an interest in English and started speaking with English speakers in the Hangzhou International Hotel. Throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ma's grandpa worked as a security guard. Ma got a pocket radio when she was 12 and started listening to English radio stations often. Ma commuted daily on his bicycle 27 kilometres (17 miles) to his job as an English-language tour guide for tourists in Hangzhou for nine years. One of those foreigners, who found it challenging to pronounce his Chinese name, became a pen friend and gave him the moniker "Jack" for short.Ma had to transfer to Hangzhou No. 8 Middle School when he was 13 because he constantly getting into fights. Ma had academic difficulties in primary school; it took him two years to be accepted into a regular Chinese high school since he scored just 31 out of a possible 40 on the mathematics section of the entrance exam for Chinese high schools.He met Ken Morley, who was on a family vacation with the Australia-China Friendship Society, in 1980 as he was riding his bike to speak English with visitors. After the family departed China, David, the son of Ken, and their mutual pen buddies stayed in touch. Years later, Ma was welcomed by the Morley family in Australia as they radically altered his life. Early in 2023, Ma visited the Morleys in Melbourne and left a charitable bequest of $26 million to the University of Newcastle, which is situated near the Morley family's hometown. Ma said on his trip to 2023: "Those 29 days in Newcastle were significant in my life. I never would have been able to think the way I do now without those 29 days.
Ma failed his college admission exam a second time in 1983. Ma was able to get 19 points on his second attempt, which was an improvement over his first attempt's maths score. Ma made the decision to try to take the college admission test for a third time in 1984 against vehement resistance from his family to convince him to give up on seeking higher education and pursue a different professional path. He completed the mathematics portion on his third try and received 89 points.Ma would not, however, have been qualified to be admitted to the institution since his score fell five points short of the minimal baseline entry criterion.
Business Career
Ma's autobiographical speech claims that following his 1988 graduation from Hangzhou Normal University, Ma applied for 31 different unusual entry-level positions but was turned down for each and every one of them. Ma told journalist Charlie Rose, "I went for a job with the KFC; they said, "You're no good." Even when KFC came to my city, I visited. There were 24 applicants for the position. 23 applications were approved. I was the only man who got turned down. China was reaching the conclusion of the first decade after Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms during this time.
Alibaba Group
Ma has been the executive chairman of the Alibaba Group since 1999. Over the past 20 years since its founding, the Alibaba Group has grown to include nine major subsidiaries: Alibaba.com, Taobao Marketplace, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, AliExpress.com, and Alipay. Ma made the announcement during the annual general meeting of shareholders for Alibaba.com in May 2010 that Alibaba Group will start allocating 0.3% of yearly revenue to environmental preservation in 2010, with a focus on programmes to enhance water and air quality. According to him, Alibaba's aim is to assist more individuals in earning "sustainable money," or money that is beneficial to both the individual and the community. That is the change we are trying to bring about.
Alipay, originally a division of the Alibaba Group, was taken over by one of his businesses in order to "comply with Chinese regulations governing payment firms in order to acquire a licence to continue running Alipay. Several experts claimed that Ma had sold Alipay to himself for less than market value without informing the board of Alibaba Group or its two significant shareholders, Yahoo and Softbank. Ma, however, said that the board of directors of Alibaba Group was aware of the transaction. Alibaba Group, Yahoo!, and Softbank agreed to a resolution of the ownership issue in July 2011. Alibaba's online transaction volume surpassed one trillion yuan in November 2012.
On May 10, 2013, Ma retired as Alibaba's CEO, while he continued to serve as the company's executive chairman. Alibaba raised nearly $25 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange, according to a September 2014 article. Château de Sours in Bordeaux, Chateau Guerry in the Côtes de Bourg, and Château Perenne in Blaye, Côtes de Bordeaux are all owned by Ma as of 2016.