JackMa celebrates 55 years
Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba, China’s largest company made it to the top the hard way. Through dint of long hours and never giving up on his dreams. In recent years, Ma has spoken at various public forums to share his journey and inspire others to follow their dream of being an entrepreneur. Alibaba is currently valued at US$460 Billion.
Ma was ranked second in the annual “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” list by Fortune. In September 2018, he announced that he would retire from Alibaba and pursue educational work, philanthropy, and environmental causes; the following year, Daniel Zhang succeeded him as executive chairman.
Ack Ma is the founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba and a stakeholder in Alipay, an e-payment portal sister company. He is now officially China’s richest man with an estimated net worth of $25 billion, backed by his company’s latest global record of $150 trillion in IPO filings. Jack Ma retains only a 7.8 percent stake in Alibaba, and a 50 percent stake in Alipay, after all of that. While Alibaba and Jack Ma are not Chinese household names, you must know that Alibaba is worth more than Facebook, and it processes products more than eBay and Amazon combined!
This could start to seem like the story of an ambitious and wealthy billionaire who has not seen the moon. But don’t get fooled by the numbers you see above, they can deceive anyone. Although it may sound as plain as that, Jack Ma has had a hard time getting to where he is today in his life. A true story of rags-to-riches and certainly one that will inspire you even in your darkest days.
Jack Ma – The Backstory
Ma Yun a.k.a. Jack Ma with modest roots is one of those self-made Milliardaires. Jack Ma was born in Hangzhou, in southeastern China. He was born and raised during the rise of communist China and its separation from the western regions, along with an elder brother and a younger sister. His parents were typical musicians-storytellers and during those days they didn’t make enough to even be known as middle class.
The visit to Hangzhou by former US president Richard Nixon in 1972 enhanced the tourism situation in his hometown and Jack decided to make the most of this opportunity.
Jack always wanted to learn English as a child and spent his early morning riding in a nearby park on his bike, giving foreigners English tours for free.