Tuesday 8 December 2015

Jack Ma or Ma Yun, Founder and Chairman of Alibaba Group

Born: Ma Yun 10 September 1964, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Residence: Hangzhou, China
Citizenship: China
Net Worth: $24.2 Billion (2015)
Source Of Wealth: Alibaba, Self Made 
Marital Status: Married 
Spouse(s): Zhang Ying
Children: 3
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Hangzhou Teacher's Institute, Hangzhou Normal University, HKUST (Honorary Doctorate)
Website: Alibaba.com
Profile: wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ma 
forbes profile: forbes.com/profile/jack-ma/
Jack Ma or Ma Yun (Chinese: 马云; born September 10, 1964) is a 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. As of November 2014, he is the richest man in China (Hong Kong not included) and 18th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $24.1 billion according to Forbes.

From Davos to New York, Jack Ma has emerged as the symbol of China's rise to No. 1 in Internet and mobile phone users. His e-commerce firm Alibaba Group, whose $21.8 billion IPO in New York in 2014 set a record as the world's biggest public stock offering, has made a swath of deals, investing in movies like "Mission Impossible-Rogue Nation," creating a sports division with Chinese partners and forming an online portal with U.S. department store Macy's. Investors have bid up private market valuation of Ant Financial, his online financial services arm. In contrast, amid allegations that it was selling counterfeit goods, Alibaba Group's stock price has declined throughout most of 2015 and fell below its IPO price in September, a drop of 50% from its November 2014 peak. In September, Alibaba said in a statement that "The sale of knock-off goods by third-party merchants is a risk that all operators of third-party transaction platforms globally face, including eBay and Amazon."

Struggle:

Ma was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. His parents were traditional musician-storytellers. At an early age, Ma developed a desire to learn English so he rode his bike each morning to a nearby hotel and 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 was the one who gave him the name "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 went on to further education at Beijing-based Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), founded in 2002 by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, graduating in 2006.
At first he started 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.......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 encountered a computer for the first time at the age of 33.

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