Jack Ma

Built the biggest global Internet platform for Chinese

 

Identity

 

Chinese, 43 years old, lives in Hangzhou in China.
Founder of Alibaba Group.
Stake in Alibaba Group: 32%.

 

Background

 

Born in Hangzhou, an industrial city two hours south of
Shanghai, Ma learnt English by himself giving tours to tourists.
He first touched a computer in 1995 during a trip in Seattle.
Back in China he set up the first Chinese commercial website
and Alibaba four years later. His skills and vision motivated
Softbank’s founder Masayoshi Son to back him.

 

October 2005 Yahoo! acquires 40% of Alibaba for $1bn.
2003 Founds TaoBao to compete with eBay in China. eBay market share drops from 2/3 to less than 30%.
June-September 1999 Jack Ma and 18 co-founders set up Alibaba group with $60,000 and launches Alibaba China to carry on business-to-business marketplaces.
December 1998 Launches an online marketplace "Alibaba Online": a bulletin board service for businesses to post buy and sell trade leads.
1997 Chinese authorities closes his website and hire him in the Ministry of foreign affairs.
1995 Discovers internet during a trip in Seattle and
foresees the need for a Chinese directory
website. He founds China Pages.
1988 Becomes English teacher.
 

What We Like

 

Vision
Against all suggestions from those close to him to make an IPO
and take the cash after 8 months of founding the company, de
decided that the company had a lifespan of 80 years which
would provide long-term continuity to develop powerful
infrastructure. Later he revised this decision to 102 years
because he wanted his company to exist for the entire 21th
century.

 

Ambitious
When his website was only one of the 200 most visited in the
world he was determined to be in the top 10, and he is now
well on his way to achieving this.
Now he firmly believes that in the future a Chinese website will
be in the top 3 most visited in the world, and he wants its to be
his!

 

People oriented
He has 8,000 employees who he considers to be the key to his
success. Like Google in the US, Alibaba is recognized as the
best company to work for in China.

 

Updated in May 2008.

 
 
 

Alibaba

The Alibaba Group is made up of 5 companies:
Alibaba.com,Taobao.com, Yahoo! China, Alipay, Alisoft.
The group listed its b2b subsidiary Alibaba.com in October 2007.

 

In His Own Words

 

“You don't have to teach SMEs how to save money, they know much better than you do.“

 

“As an entrepreneur, never wait. Create the opportunity“ Jack Ma, at the IPO roadshow in London, October 2007


"I remember when I talked about my story for B2B and ecommerce in 2000. Everybody thought that I was crazy. Of course we made so many mistakes, like any company, but we never gave up the hope of making sure our dream came true.“


His advice to young people: "Believe in your dream and believe in yourself.“


Alibaba.com website, October 2006