Jack Ma

Jack Ma
Born	Ma Yun 10 9, 1964
Birthplace	Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Nationality	Chinese
Occupation	Businessman, philanthropist
Known for	Co-founder of Alibaba Group
Education	Hangzhou Normal University (BA)
Spouse(s)	Zhang Ying
Children	2
Awards	Time 100 (2014)

Jack Ma (Template:Zh; born Ma Yun, 10 September 1964) is a Chinese businessman and philanthropist who co-founded Alibaba Group, one of the world's largest e-commerce and technology conglomerates. Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Ma overcame a series of early career rejections and academic setbacks before establishing himself as one of the most prominent entrepreneurs in China's technology sector. He failed the national college entrance examination, the gaokao, twice before eventually earning a bachelor's degree in English from Hangzhou Normal University in 1988. After working as an English teacher and exploring China's nascent internet industry in the mid-1990s, Ma co-founded Alibaba in 1999, initially as a business-to-business e-commerce marketplace that connected Chinese manufacturers with international buyers. The company grew into a sprawling multinational conglomerate encompassing consumer retail, cloud computing, digital payments, and logistics. Ma served as Alibaba's executive chairman until his retirement from the position in September 2019. He is also the founder of the Jack Ma Foundation and co-founder of Yunfeng Capital. His public profile diminished significantly after Chinese regulators halted the initial public offering of Ant Group, his digital payments company, in late 2020, though he has re-emerged in recent years with a renewed focus on artificial intelligence initiatives at Alibaba.

Early Life

Ma Yun was born on 10 September 1964 in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province in eastern China. He grew up during a period of significant political and economic upheaval in China. As a young person, Ma developed an early interest in learning English, a pursuit that was unusual in China at the time. He reportedly practiced his English skills by offering free tours to foreign visitors at Hangzhou's West Lake, where he would converse with English-speaking tourists to improve his command of the language. It was during one of these encounters that a foreign visitor gave him the English name "Jack."

Ma's early academic career was marked by repeated failure. He struggled with mathematics and twice failed the gaokao, China's highly competitive national college entrance examination. On his third attempt, he scored high enough to gain admission to Hangzhou Normal University, though his overall score was below the threshold for the more prestigious universities in China. These early academic difficulties would later become a frequent theme in Ma's public speeches, in which he referenced his rejections as formative experiences.

Beyond academic struggles, Ma faced rejection from numerous employers in his early career. He has publicly recounted being turned down by approximately thirty jobs, including a position at Kentucky Fried Chicken, where he was reportedly the only applicant out of twenty-four to be rejected. He was also turned down by the police force and, by his own account, was rejected by Harvard University ten times. These repeated rejections became central to Ma's personal narrative as an entrepreneur who succeeded despite persistent early failure.

Education

Ma earned his bachelor's degree in English from Hangzhou Normal University in 1988, after three attempts at the gaokao. The university, located in his hometown of Hangzhou, was not among China's top-tier academic institutions, and Ma's enrollment there was largely a consequence of his lower examination scores. Following his graduation, Ma was assigned as a lecturer in English and international trade at Hangzhou Dianzi University, a position he held for several years before eventually leaving academia to pursue business ventures in the internet sector.

Career

Early Ventures and Internet Discovery

Ma's first exposure to the internet came during a trip to the United States in the early 1990s, an experience that proved transformative for his career trajectory. Upon encountering the World Wide Web for the first time, Ma recognized the potential of the internet for commerce and was struck by the absence of Chinese content online. This observation motivated him to begin exploring internet-based business opportunities upon his return to China.

In 1994, while still working as a university lecturer, Ma founded his first business, Hangzhou Hope Translation Agency. The following year, he created a website for the translation agency, gaining further experience with internet technology. Ma then resigned from his university position to establish Hangzhou Hope Computer Services Co., Ltd., which operated an online yellow pages service for Chinese companies. This venture was one of China's earliest internet startups, seeking to help domestic businesses establish an online presence and connect with potential customers.

In 1996, Ma's online yellow pages company was acquired by China Telecommunications Corporation. However, the collaboration proved unsatisfactory, and Ma left the company in 1997. He subsequently moved to Beijing, where he worked on developing websites for China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC). This experience exposed Ma to the challenges and opportunities of China's evolving trade landscape and further informed his understanding of how the internet could facilitate business transactions.

Founding of Alibaba Group

In 1999, Ma returned to Hangzhou and co-founded Alibaba Group with a group of seventeen friends and associates in his apartment. The company was initially conceived as a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce marketplace that would connect Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises with international buyers. Ma has spoken publicly about the early obstacles the company faced, including difficulty securing funding and skepticism from potential investors about the viability of e-commerce in China.

Despite these challenges, Alibaba attracted early investment, including funding from SoftBank and Goldman Sachs, which helped the company scale its operations. The B2B platform, Alibaba.com, grew to become a significant global trading platform, connecting millions of businesses across borders. The company subsequently expanded into consumer e-commerce with the launch of Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer marketplace, and Tmall, a business-to-consumer platform. These platforms became dominant forces in China's rapidly growing online retail market.

Alibaba also moved into digital payments with the creation of Alipay (later part of Ant Group), which became one of the largest digital payment platforms in the world. The ownership and transfer of Alipay became a subject of significant corporate controversy. In 2011, the restructuring of Alipay's ownership prompted a dispute with Alibaba's shareholders, including Yahoo!, which held a significant stake in Alibaba Group. The dispute was eventually resolved through a negotiated agreement.

Alibaba's IPO and Global Expansion

Alibaba Group's initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014 was, at the time, the largest IPO in history, raising approximately US$25 billion. The offering underscored Alibaba's transformation from a small startup in Ma's Hangzhou apartment into one of the world's most valuable technology companies. As the public face of Alibaba, Ma became one of the most recognized business figures in Asia and globally.

Under Ma's leadership, Alibaba expanded well beyond its e-commerce origins into cloud computing (Alibaba Cloud), digital media, entertainment, and logistics. The company also made significant international acquisitions and investments, seeking to expand its footprint outside of China. Ma was instrumental in promoting Alibaba's global ambitions. In January 2017, he met with then-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to discuss expansion plans, with the company aiming to create one million U.S. jobs over a five-year period by enabling American small businesses to sell to Chinese consumers through the Alibaba platform.

Ma also collaborated with other prominent business figures in Asian commerce. In 2017, he joined forces with Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing to bring digital wallet services to Hong Kong.

Retirement from Alibaba

In September 2018, Ma announced his intention to step down as executive chairman of Alibaba Group, with the transition to take effect one year later, on 10 September 2019 — his 55th birthday and Alibaba's 20th anniversary. The timing of the announcement was noted by analysts as being strategically planned to minimize risk to the company. Ma was succeeded as executive chairman by Daniel Zhang, who had been serving as CEO. Ma stated that he intended to focus on philanthropy and education after stepping down from his corporate role.

Ant Group IPO Suspension and Diminished Public Profile

In October 2020, Ma delivered a speech at a financial summit in Shanghai in which he criticized China's financial regulators, characterizing the country's banking system as having a "pawnshop mentality" that prioritized risk control over innovation. The speech preceded what would have been a record-breaking dual listing of Ant Group — the financial technology company spun off from Alibaba — on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The anticipated IPO, which was expected to raise more than US$37 billion, was abruptly halted by Chinese regulators in November 2020.

Following the suspension of the Ant Group IPO, Ma largely disappeared from public view for an extended period, prompting widespread international speculation about his whereabouts and status. Chinese authorities subsequently launched a broader regulatory crackdown on the country's technology sector, imposing antitrust fines and new regulations on several major tech companies, including Alibaba, which was fined a record US$2.8 billion in April 2021.

An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) examined the case involving Ma and highlighted how China utilized Interpol mechanisms in connection with political objectives.

Return to Alibaba and AI Focus

After several years of reduced public visibility, Ma began re-emerging in 2023 and subsequently increased his involvement with Alibaba, particularly as the company intensified its push into artificial intelligence. By 2025, Ma was described as making "bold bets" at Alibaba, with a renewed focus on AI development and strategy. His return was characterized by observers as a significant shift after the period of regulatory pressure that had sidelined him.

Ma has also used his renewed public platform to advocate for changes in China's education system in response to the AI era. In public remarks, he urged that Chinese educators teach students to "ask thousands of good questions, rather than give the same correct answer," reflecting his belief that the education system must adapt to the changing demands of technology and innovation.

Personal Life

Ma is married to Zhang Ying, whom he met while they were both students at Hangzhou Normal University. The couple have two children — a son and a daughter.

Ma has been noted for his colorful personality and unconventional public appearances. At Alibaba's annual company events, he has performed dance routines, including routines inspired by Michael Jackson, for audiences of tens of thousands of Alibaba employees. He has also made surprise appearances at music festivals, performing for audiences in a capacity that underscored his reputation as an entertainer among corporate leaders.

Outside of his business interests, Ma has invested in wine, purchasing Château de Sours and Château Perenne in the Bordeaux wine region of France.

Recognition

Ma has received significant recognition from international media and organizations over the course of his career. In 2014, he was named to the Time 100, Time magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was also recognized by Bloomberg Businessweek in its listing of prominent business figures.

Ma's philanthropic activities have also been recognized. He was featured in Forbes magazine's list of notable philanthropists for his charitable contributions. He served as a board member of The Nature Conservancy's China program, reflecting his engagement with environmental conservation efforts.

Ma has been described as a leading figure and global ambassador of Chinese business, though this characterization became more complicated following the Ant Group IPO suspension and the subsequent regulatory actions against Alibaba and other Chinese technology companies.

Legacy

Jack Ma's legacy is closely intertwined with the rise of China's internet economy and the transformation of global e-commerce. As co-founder of Alibaba Group, he played a central role in building one of the largest technology companies in the world, one that fundamentally reshaped retail commerce, digital payments, and cloud computing in China and beyond. Alibaba's growth from an apartment-based startup in 1999 to a publicly traded multinational conglomerate with a market capitalization that has at times exceeded hundreds of billions of dollars represents one of the most significant corporate growth stories of the early 21st century.

Ma's personal story of repeated rejection and eventual success — from failing the gaokao twice, to being turned down by KFC, to building Alibaba — became a frequently cited narrative in discussions of entrepreneurship and perseverance, particularly in China and across Asia. His public speaking appearances and candid remarks about failure and persistence made him one of the most recognizable business figures globally.

However, the events of 2020 and their aftermath also became a defining element of Ma's legacy, illustrating the complex relationship between China's private technology sector and the state. The halting of the Ant Group IPO and the subsequent regulatory crackdown signaled a significant shift in the Chinese government's posture toward the country's most powerful technology companies and their founders. Ma's diminished public profile during the period from late 2020 to 2023 became a widely discussed example of the limits of private enterprise within China's political system.

Ma's re-emergence in 2025, with a renewed focus on artificial intelligence at Alibaba, suggests a new chapter in his career, one that continues to draw significant attention from international business and financial media.