Jack Ma or Ma Yun - Chinese business magnate and philanthropist. He is the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a family of successful Internet-based businesses. He is the first mainland Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of Forbes.

Childhood and Education

Ma was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. At an early age, Ma developed a desire to learn English, so he rode his bicycle each morning to a nearby hotel to converse with foreigners. He would guide them around the city for free to practice and improve his English. He did this for nine years. He became pen pals with one of these foreigners, and she nicknamed him "Jack", because his real Chinese name was too difficult to pronounce.

Later in his youth, and although he failed the university entrance exam three times, Ma attended Hangzhou Teacher's Institute (currently known as Hangzhou Normal University) and graduated in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in English. While at school, Ma was elected student chairman. He became a lecturer in English and International Trade at the Hangzhou Dianzi University and later enrolled at Beijing-based Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), graduating in 2006.

Career

Ma applied for 30 different jobs and got rejected. " I went for a job with the police; they said, 'you're no good,'" Ma told Rose. "I even went to KFC when it came to my city. Twenty-four people went for the job. Twenty-three were accepted. I was the only guy ..."

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. Within five hours of creating the website he had received emails from some Chinese wishing to know about him. This is when Ma realized that the Internet had something great to offer. In April 1995, Ma, his wife and a friend collected $20,000 and started an Internet company. Their company was dedicated to creating websites for companies. He named their company "China Yellow Pages." Within three years, his company had made 5,000,000 Chinese Yuan which was equivalent to US$800,000.

Ma began building websites for Chinese companies with the help of friends in the US. He has said that "the day we got connected to the Web, I invited friends and TV people over to my house," and on a very slow dial-up connection, "we waited three and a half hours and got half a page.... We drank, watched TV and played cards, waiting. But I was so proud. I proved (to my house guests that) the Internet existed." (At a conference in 2010, Ma revealed that he has never actually written a line of code nor made one sale to a customer. He acquired a computer for the first time at the age of 33.)

From 1998 to 1999, Ma headed an information technology company established by the China International Electronic Commerce Center, a department of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. In 1999, he quit and returned to Hangzhou with his team to found Alibaba, a China-based business-to-business marketplace site in his apartment with a group of 17 friends. He started a new round of venture development with 500,000 yuan.

In October 1999 and January 2000, Alibaba twice won a total of a $25 million international venture capital investment. The program was expected to improve the domestic e-commerce market and perfect an e-commerce platform for Chinese enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to address World Trade Organization (WTO) challenges. 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 it was reported Alibaba was raising over $25 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange. 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. Ma now serves as executive chairman of Alibaba Group, which is a holding company with nine major subsidiaries: Alibaba.com, Taobao Marketplace, Tmall, eTao, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, AliExpress.com and Alipay.

In November 2012, Alibaba's online transaction volume exceeded one trillion yuan. Ma was thus labeled "trillion Hou", meaning literally "Trillion Yuan Marquis" in Chinese.

Ma has often been invited to lecture at universities such as the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Peking University.

As of 2016, Jack Ma is the owner of Château de Sours in Bordeaux, Chateau Guerry in Côtes de Bourg and Château Perenne in Blaye, Côtes de Bordeaux.

Accomplishments

In 2004, Ma was chosen by China Central Television and its viewers as one of the "Top 10 Business Leaders of the Year".

In 2005, Ma was selected by the World Economic Forum as a "Young Global Leader" and was named one of the "25 Most Powerful Business people in Asia" by Fortune magazine. He was selected by Businessweek as a "Businessperson of the Year" in 2007 and one of the 30 "World’s Best CEOs" by Barron's in 2008.

In May 2009, Ma was listed by Time in its Time 100 list of the world’s 100 most influential people. In reporting Ma’s accomplishments, Adi Ignatius, former Time senior editor and editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review, noted that "the Chinese Internet entrepreneur is soft-spoken and elflike — and he speaks really good English" and remarked that "Alibaba and Ma's consumer-auction website, Taobao.com, did so well that in 2006, eBay shut down its own site in China." In 2014, he was again included in the list. He was also chosen as one of China's Most Powerful People by BusinessWeek, and one of the Top 10 Most Respected Entrepreneurs in China by Forbes China in 2009. Ma received the 2009 CCTV Economic Person of the Year: Business Leaders of the Decade Award.

In 2010, Ma was selected by Forbes Asia as one of Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy for his contribution to disaster relief and poverty.

In 2011 it was announced that one of his companies had gained control of Alipay, formerly a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, so as to "comply with Chinese law governing payment companies in order to secure a license to continue operating Alipay. Numerous analysts reported that Ma sold Alipay to himself below market value without notifying the board of Alibaba Group or the other major owners Yahoo and Softbank, while Ma stated that Alibaba Group's board of directors were aware of the transaction. The ownership dispute was resolved by Alibaba Group, Yahoo! and Softbank in July 2011.

Ma was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in November 2013.

Ma is a board member of Japan’s SoftBank and China’s Huayi Brothers Media Corporation. He became a trustee of The Nature Conservancy’s China program in 2009 and joined its global board of directors in April 2010. In 2013, he became chairman of the board for The Nature Conservancy's China Program; this was one day after he stepped down from Alibaba as company CEO. Ma is the first Chinese citizen to serve on The Nature Conservancy’s board.

In 2014 he was ranked as the 30th most powerful person in the world in an annual ranking published by Forbes.

In 2015 he was honoured with the Entrepreneur of the Year award at The Asian Awards.

Views

In 2007, in response to worldwide criticism of the practice of killing sharks for their fins, Ma announced that he and his family had "sworn off shark fin soup now and forever." Ma has stated that moment created a newfound interest in environmentalism that would shape his future ethos. In January 2009, Alibaba Group revised its listing policy and banned the sale of shark fin products on all of its e-commerce platforms.

At the Alibaba.com annual shareholders meeting in May 2009, Ma encouraged those in attendance to take action by starting businesses to cope with the economic downturn rather than waiting for government or business to help them. He reminded everyone that the great fortunes of the world were made by people who saw opportunities that others didn't, and he noted that the aftermath of the recent global recession would be no different in terms of exposing new ways of doing business.

At the annual general meeting of shareholders for Alibaba.com in May 2010, Ma announced Alibaba Group would begin in 2010 to earmark 0.3% of annual revenue to environmental protection, particularly on water and air quality improvement projects. Of the future of Alibaba, he has said that "our challenge is to help more people to make healthy money, 'sustainable money,' money that is not only good for themselves but also good for the society. That's the transformation we are aiming to make."

In 2015 Ma made his first purchase of conservation land outside China when he bought a 28,100-acre property named Brandon Park in Paul Smiths, New York, in Adirondack Park for $23 million.

Personal Life

Jack Ma is married to Zhang Ying. They have a son and a daughter.

Ma met his wife when they were studying at Hangzhou Normal University. They married shortly after graduating in the late 1980s. Both began working as teachers.

According to Ma and his assistant, Ma had been studying and practicing Chen-style Tai Chi Chuan in Hangzhou for some time when in 2009 he began studying with Wáng Xī'an. In 2011, Ma hired several tournament-winning Tai Chi players to teach at Alibaba. Wang, Jet Li, and Ma teach regular classes at Alibaba, at which attendance by employees is mandatory. Ma's vision, according to his assistant, is that one day people will remember him as a Tai Chi master foremost, rather than solely as the founder of China's largest internet company and online shopping website.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ma

Alibaba Group was established in 1999 by 18 people led by Jack Ma, a former English teacher from Hangzhou, China. From the outset, the company's founders shared a belief that the Internet would level the playing field by enabling small enterprises to leverage innovation and technology to grow and compete more effectively in the domestic and global economies. Since launching its first website helping small Chinese exporters, manufacturers and entrepreneurs to sell internationally, Alibaba Group has grown into a global leader in online and mobile commerce. Today the company and its related companies operate leading wholesale and retail online marketplaces as well as Internet-based businesses offering advertising and marketing services, electronic payment, cloud-based computing and network services and mobile solutions, among others.

1999 year

Alibaba Group is established by its 18 founders, led by Jack Ma, working out of Jack Ma’s apartment in Hangzhou. Its first website is English-language Alibaba.com, a global wholesale marketplace.
Alibaba Group launches a China marketplace (currently known as 1688.com) for domestic wholesale trade.
Alibaba Group raises US$5 million from a consortium of investors.

2000 year

Alibaba Group raises US$20 million from an investor group led by SoftBank.
Alibaba Group organizes the first West Lake Summit, a gathering of Internet business and thought leaders.

2001 year

Alibaba Group outlines its mission and corporate values.
Alibaba.com surpasses 1 million registered users.

2002 year

Alibaba Group becomes cash flow positive for the year.

2003 year

Alibaba group continues to operate in spite of the SARS epidemic and quarantine measures that prevent staff from coming to work.
Online shopping website Taobao Marketplace is founded, again in Jack Ma's apartment.

2004 year

Alibaba Group raises US$82 million from several first-tier investors in the largest private equity commitment ever in the Chinese Internet sector.
Alibaba Group organizes its first Netrepreneur Summit, a gathering of Internet entrepreneurs, and honors the first 10 Netrepreneurs of the Year.
Aliwangwang, a personal computer-based instant messaging tool that facilitates text, audio and video communication between buyers and sellers, is launched on Taobao Marketplace.
Alipay, currently a related company of Alibaba Group, is launched as a third-party online payment platform.

2005 year

Alibaba Group forms a strategic partnership with Yahoo!.
Alibaba Group takes over the operations of China Yahoo!.

2006 year

The Taobao University program is launched, providing e-commerce training and education to buyers and sellers.

2007 year

Alibaba.com completes its initial public offering on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Alibaba Group launches Alimama, an online marketing technology platform.

2008 year

Taobao Mall (currently known as Tmall.com), a dedicated platform for third-party brands and retailers, is introduced to complement Taobao Marketplace.
Alibaba Group R&D Institute is established.

2009 year

Alibaba Cloud is established in conjunction with Alibaba Group's 10th anniversary celebration.
Alibaba.com announces the acquisition of HiChina, China's leading Internet infrastructure service provider.

2010 year

Alibaba.com renames its China marketplace 1688.com.
Taobao Marketplace introduces online group buying marketplace Juhuasuan.
Alibaba.com officially launches AliExpress to enable exporters in China to reach and directly transact with consumers around the world.
Alibaba Group announces that it will earmark 0.3% of its annual revenue to fund efforts designed to spur environmental awareness and conservation in China and around the world.
The Alibaba Partnership is established to ensure the sustainability of Alibaba Group’s mission, vision and values.
Alibaba.com acquires Vendio and Auctiva, providers of e-commerce solutions to U.S. small businesses.
The Mobile Taobao App is launched.
Alibaba.com announces the acquisition of One-Touch, a provider of one-stop services for exporters in China.

2011 year

Taobao Mall (currently known as Tmall.com) is spun off from Taobao Marketplace as an independent platform.
Juhuasuan is spun off from Taobao Marketplace as an independent platform.
Alibaba Group establishes the Alibaba Foundation with a sizeable fund dedicated to social causes.

2012 year

Alibaba Group completes an initial repurchase of shares from Yahoo! in a restructuring of the companies' relationship.

2013 year

Taobao's 10th anniversary is marked with a global gathering of Alibaba Group employees in Hangzhou.
Alibaba Group establishes Cainiao Network together with a consortium of logistics companies.
Alibaba Group unveils the Alibaba Smart TV OS.
Alibaba Group relocates its campus to Xixi District in Hangzhou.
Alibaba Group officially launches its mobile social networking app, Laiwang (currently known as DianDianChong).

2014 год

Tmall Global is officially launched as an extension of Tmall.com to enable international brands to offer products directly to consumers in China.
Alibaba Group completes the full acquisition and integration of mobile browser company UCWeb.
Alibaba Group starts offering mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) services in China under the Ali Telecom brand.
Alibaba Group completes the acquisition of an approximately 60% stake in movie and television program producer ChinaVision (currently known as Alibaba Pictures Group).
Alibaba Group establishes a joint venture with Intime to develop an O2O business in China.
Alibaba Group completes its investment in digital mapping company AutoNavi.
Alibaba Group goes public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Alibaba Group announces that it will invest RMB10 billion over the next three to five years to build 1,000 county-level “Taobao rural operations centers” and 100,000 village-level “Taobao rural service centers” throughout China.
Ant Financial Services Group, a related company of Alibaba Group, is formally established.
Taobao Travel becomes an independent platform and is brand named "Alitrip."

2015 year

Ant Financial Services Group introduces its credit-scoring service, Sesame Credit.
Alibaba Group and Ant Financial Services Group announce the closing of the restructuring of the relationships between the two companies.
Alibaba Group officially launches DingTalk, a mobile group-messaging tool tailored to meet the communication needs of SMEs.
Alibaba Group holds its inaugural Global Conference on Women and Entrepreneurship in Hangzhou.
Alibaba Group and Ant Financial Services Group announce they will set up a joint venture, named Koubei, to capture opportunities within China’s local services market.
Ant Financial Services Group officially establishes MYbank, one of China’s first privately owned online banks.
Alibaba Group announces the creation of Alibaba Music Group.
Alibaba Cloud issues a data protection pact for its worldwide cloud consumers.
Alibaba Group and Suning enter into a strategic alliance to build on synergies in e-commerce, logistics and O2O Initiatives.
Alibaba Cloud announces plans to open its international headquarters in Singapore.
Alibaba Group establishes the Alibaba Sports Group together with Sina Corporation and Yunfeng Capital.
Alibaba Group announces the expansion of its London office to serve as the company’s European hub.
Alibaba Group and Youku Tudou announce their entry into a definitive merger agreement.
Alibaba Group officially launches the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Funds for Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Alibaba Group enters into a definite agreement to acquire the South China Morning Post.

http://www.alibabagroup.com/en/about/history