Ma Yun (Chinese: 马云, [mà y̌n]; born September 10, 1964), known professionally as Jack Ma, is a Chinese business magnate who 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.
Early life
Ma was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Ma started to study English at a young age and practiced English daily by conversing with English-speakers at Hangzhou hotel, a 40 minute bike ride from his home. He would give them tours around the city for free to improve his English. He did this for nine years. He became pen pals with one of those foreigners, who nicknamed him “Jack” because he found it hard to pronounce his Chinese name.[citation needed]
Later in his youth, Ma struggled to attend college. The Chinese entrance exams are held only once a year and it took Ma four years to pass. After that, Ma attended Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute (currently known as Hangzhou Normal University) and graduated in 1988 with a B.A. in English. While at school, Ma was head of the student council. After graduation, he became a lecturer of English and International Trade at Hangzhou Dianzi University. He later enrolled at Beijing-based Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and graduated in 2006.
Chinese Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma has an estimated net worth of $40.3 billion in September 2018. He is also #395 in the World Billionaires List, #442 in 2012, #16 in China, and #11 in China Rich List. Born Ma Yun (in Chinese) on September 10, 1964 in Hangzhou, Zheijang, China, he graduated with a degree in English from Hangzhou Teacher’s Institue, now the Hangzhou Normal University, in 1988. He then became an English and International Trade lecturer at the Hangzhou Dianzi University. Ma is the founder of China Yellowpages, the first Internet company ever established in China in 1995, and Alibaba.com, a business-to-business site built in 1999. He has also runs an information technology company for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Commerce. He is the CEO and Chairman of Alibaba which has grown exponentially since the site was launched. Currently, it has 79 million members in more than 240 countries with six active subsidiaries such as Alibaba.com, Tmall.com, eTao, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Taobao Marketplace, and Yahoo! China. He is also the CEO of Alibaba Group. In January 2012, Jack Ma made a surprise announcement that he will be stepping down as the CEO at 48. It was quite odd since Alibaba widely anticipated to float its shares in a massive IPO later this year. His fortune is up by $700 million since last year as the value of the Alibaba Group has jumped. It has arranged to buy back the 40% share of the company which is owned by Yahoo. It will also delist its b2b site Alibaba.com from the Hong Kong stock exchange. The purchase gave the company a $40 billion earnings.
Source: