Name : Jack Ma or Ma Yun

Born : 10 September 1964 (China)

Occupation : Founder and Executive Chairman

of Alibaba Group

Net worth : US$41.8 billion, as of June 2017

About: Jack Ma is a Chinese Internet entrepreneur, the

Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group. He is
the richest person in Asia and the 14th richest in the world.
Ma was named the Financial Times’ 2013 Person of the Year,
referring to him as the “godfather of China’s scrappy
entrepreneurial spirit.”
 Ma was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Ma started
to study English at a young age and practiced English daily by
giving free tours to English-speakers at Hangzhou international
hotel, a 40 minute bike ride from his home. He became pen
pals with one of those foreigners, who nicknamed him "Jack."

 After high school, he applied to go to college — but failed the

entrance exam twice. After a great deal of studying, he finally
passed on the third try, going on to attend Hangzhou Teacher's
Institute. He graduated in 1988 with a B.A. in English and started
applying to as many jobs as he could.

 Jack Ma applied for 30 different jobs and got rejected by all,

including from KFC — before being hired as an English teacher.
He also one of the 5 applicants to a job in Police force and was the
only one getting rejected after being told, “No, you’re no good.”
 In 1994, Ma heard about the Internet. In early 1995, he went to the
US and with his friends' help he got introduced to the Internet.

 During his first encounter he searched the word "beer". Although he

found information related to beer from many countries, he was
surprised to find none from China. Further, he tried to search for
general information about China and again was surprised to find
none. So he and his friend created an "ugly" website related to China
and received emails from some Chinese wishing to know about him.

 In April 1995, Ma, his wife and a friend went around, asked for
USD 20,000, and started their first company. Their company was
dedicated to creating websites for companies. He named their
company "China Yellow Pages.“ Within three years, his company
had made USD 800,000.
 From 1998 to 1999, Ma headed an information technology company
established by the China International Electronic Commerce Centre,
a department of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic
Cooperation.

 In 1999, he quit and returned to Hangzhou with his team and found
Alibaba, a China-based business-to-business marketplace site in
his apartment with a group of 18 friends.

 Initially, Alibaba didn’t have a single penny in investment from

outside investors, but they later raised $20 Million from SoftBank
and another $5 Million from Goldman Sachs in 1999.

 Building trust among the people of China that an online system of

payment and package transfers is safe was the biggest challenge
Jack Ma and Alibaba faced, a challenge that Jack will cherish for
his lifetime.
 Ma wanted to improve the global e-commerce system and from
2003 he founded Taobao Marketplace, Alipay, Ali Mama and
Lynx.

 After the rapid rise of Taobao, eBay offered to purchase the

company. However, Ma rejected their offer, instead garnering
support from Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang with a $1 billion
investment.

 In September 2014 , Alibaba became one of the most valuable tech

companies in the world after raising $25 billion, the largest initial
public offering in US financial history.

 Having started his first successful company at the age of 31 and

even after never having written a single line of code or selling
something to anyone, Jack Ma runs one of the biggest E-commerce
networks in the world.
 Ma stepped down from his post as CEO in 2013, staying on as executive
chairman. "Today what we got is not money. What we got is the trust
from the people," Ma told CNBC.

 Company lore has it that Ma came up with the name "Alibaba" while
sitting in a San Francisco coffee shop

 The IPO may have made Ma an extremely wealthy man, but he hasn't
made any flashy purchases (yet), and he still has some pretty modest
hobbies. "I don't think he has changed much, he is still that old style,"
Xiao-Ping Chen, a friend of Ma, told USA Today.

 He likes reading and writing kung fu fiction, playing poker, meditating,

and practicing tai chi.
 Ma developed an interest in environmentalism when a member
of his wife's family became sick with an illness that Ma
suspected was caused by pollution.

 He sits on the global board of The Nature Conservancy, and

spoke during a session of the Clinton Global Initiative this
September.

 He's also been instrumental in funding a 27,000-acre nature

reserve in China.

 In "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," a secret password unlocks

a trove filled with unbelievable riches. Ma's company has, in a
way, revealed the potential of small and mid-sized businesses
across the globe.
 In 2004, China Central Television and its viewers selected Ma as
one of the "Top 10 Business Leaders of the Year.“

 In Sep 2005, World Economic Forum selected Ma as a "Young

Global Leader“.

 Fortune Magazine also selected him as one of the "25 Most

Powerful Businessperson in Asia".

 Businessweek also selected him as a "Businessperson of the Year“

in 2007, and Barron's chose him as one of the 30 "World’s Best
CEOs" in 2008.

 In 2015, Asian Award honoured him with the Entrepreneur of the

Year award.

 In 2017, Fortune ranked Ma second on its World's 50 Greatest

Leaders list.