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Jack Ma is a Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of the Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. As of August 2018, he is one of China’s richest men with a net worth of US$37.6 billion, as well as one of the wealthiest people in the world. Ma’s primarily ideology was for an open and market driven economy.
Birth Name
Ma Yun
Nickname
Jack Ma
Profession
Businessman, Investor, Philanthropist
Nationality
Chinese
Personal Life
Birthday / Date of Birth
Jack Ma was born on 15 October 1964, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Age
He’s currently 54 years old.
Sun Sign
Libra
Ethnicity
Asian / Chinese
Education
After his school studies, Jack Ma enrolled at the Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute (now Hangzhou Normal University), graduating with a B.A. in Englis. He later attended Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and graduated in 2006.
Family Details
- Father – Ma Laifa (Musician and storyteller)
- Mother – Cui Wencai (Musician and storyteller)
- Siblings – He has an Older Brother and Younger sister.
Manager
Jack Ma’s personal management team handles his representation and management work.
Marital Status
Married
Girlfriend / Spouse
Jack Ma dated-
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- Zhang Ying (1980-Present) – Jack Ma got married to Zhang Ying in the 80s. They had first met while studying at Hangzhou Normal University. They got married just after graduating from the university. They were both working as teachers at that time. Over the course of their marriage, they have become parents to two children– a son and a daughter.
Physical Statistics
Height
- In feet – 4 feet 11¾ inches
- In centimeters – 152 cm
- In meters – 1.52 m
Weight
- In Kilograms – 59 kg
- In Pounds – 130 lbs
Body Measurements
His body specs like chest, biceps and waist are unknown.
Body Build
Slim
Eye Color
Black
Hair Color
Black
Sexuality
Straight
Distinctive Features
- Short and slight body
- Gaunt face
Professional Statistics
Famous For
- Today, his group of companies, Alibaba and its subsidiaries, is one of the world’s largest and most valuable tech companies valued at several billion dollars. He also owns several other companies across the globe.Best Known For
Being the co-founder of the Chinese multinational technology conglomerate, Alibaba Group. He serves as an executive chairman of the company.
Film & Television Debut
In 2017, Jack Ma entered the acting industry with his first kung fu short film Gong Shou Dao. It was filmed in collaboration with the Double 11 Shopping Carnival Singles’ Day.
Brand Endorsements
Jack Ma hasn’t done endorsement work for any brand.
Jack Ma Favorites
- Favorite Movie– Forrest Gump (1994)
Jack Ma Net worth
Jack Ma has a net worth of $37 billion dollars as of 2019. Ma’s wealth mostly comes from his 6.3 percent stake in Alibaba Group Holdings, roughly 160 million shares, and the online payment service Alipay. He also has stakes in several companies including Taobao Marketplace, Tmall, eTao, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, AliExpress.com to name a few. Ma owns several expensive properties worldwide including the 9,890-square-feet luxury house in Hong Kong which he bought recently for a whopping $193 million. He also purchased a 28,100-acre property in New York’s Adirondacks for $23 Million. He may not be the world’s richest person , but he owns some of the world’s finest cars like BMW 760Li, Mercedes Maybach 62S and private jets like Gulfstream 550, amongst others.
Social Media Profiles
He doesn’t have any social media account.
Awards & Honors
- In 2004, Ma was honoured as one of the “Top 10 Economic Personas of the Year” by China Central Television (CCTV).
- In Sep 2005, the World Economic Forum selected Ma as a “Young Global Leader”.
- Fortune Magazine also selected him as one of the “25 Most Powerful Businessperson in Asia” in 2005.
- Businessweek also selected him as a “Businessperson of the Year” in 2007.
- In 2008, Barron’s featured him as one of the 30 “World’s Best CEOs”
- In May 2009, Time magazine listed Ma as one of the world’s 100 most powerful people. In reporting Ma’s accomplishments, Adi Ignatius, former Time senior editor and editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review, noted that the Chinese Internet entrepreneur is soft-spoken and elf-like and he speaks really good English and remarked that “Taobao.com, Mr. Ma’s consumer-auction website, conquered eBay in China.” He was also included in this list in 2014.
- BusinessWeek chose him as one of China’s Most Powerful People.
- Forbes China also selected him as one of the Top 10 Most Respected Entrepreneurs in China by in 2009. Ma received the 2009 CCTV Economic Person of the Year: Business Leaders of the Decade Award.
- In 2010, Ma was selected by Forbes Asia as one of Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy for his contribution to disaster relief and poverty.
- In 2011 it was announced that one of his companies had gained control of Alipay, formerly a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, so as to “comply with Chinese law governing payment companies in order to secure a license to continue operating Alipay.
- Numerous analysts reported that Ma sold Alipay to himself below market value without notifying the board of Alibaba Group or the other major owners Yahoo and Softbank, while Ma stated that Alibaba Group’s board of directors were aware of the transaction. The ownership dispute was resolved by Alibaba Group, Yahoo! and Softbank in July 2011.
- Ma was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in November 2013.
- Ma is a board member of Japan’s SoftBank and China’s Huayi Brothers Media Corporation. He became a trustee of The Nature Conservancy’s China program in 2009 and joined its global board of directors in April 2010.
- In 2013, he became chairman of the board for The Nature Conservancy’s China Program; this was one day after he stepped down from Alibaba as company CEO.
- In 2014, he was ranked as the 30th most powerful person in the world in an annual ranking published by Forbes.
- In 2015, Asian Award honoured him with the Entrepreneur of the Year award.
- In 2017, Fortune ranked Ma second on its World’s 50 Greatest Leaders list.
- In 2017, a KPMG survey ranked Ma third in global tech innovation visionary survey.
- In October 2017, Ma was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Science in Technopreneurship from De La Salle University Manila, Philippines.
- In May 2018, Ma was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa in recognition of his contributions to technology, society and the world by University of Hong Kong.
- In May 2018, Ma received an honorable doctoral degree from professors Yaakov Frenkel and Yaron Oz at the Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Some Lesser Known Facts About Jack Ma
- Growing up, Ma learned English on his won by speaking with English-speakers at Hangzhou international hotel. He used to travel 70 miles on his bicycle to give tourists tours of the area to practice his English for nine years.
- One of his pen pals nicknamed him Jack as he wasn’t comfortable pronouncing his original name.
- After graduation, he didn’t get select in any company even after applying for 30 different jobs. He even applied for a job in KFC, but was rejected. In addition he applied 10 times for Harvard and got rejected.
- in 1995, he found China Yellow Pages, the first internet company ever established in China.
- In 1998, he was hired to head an IT company set up by the China International Electronic Commerce Center, which falls under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. He quit his job in 1999.
- In 1999., Jack Ma founded Alibaba.com, a business-to-business commerce site. Since that, Alibaba has grown exponentially becoming one of the largest online marketplace in the world.
- Ma is a board member of Japan’s SoftBank and China’s Huayi Brothers Media Corporation. He became a trustee of The Nature Conservancy’s China program in 2009 and joined its global board of directors in April 2010.
- In 2004, China Central Television and its viewers selected Ma as one of the “Top 10 Business Leaders of the Year”.
- Forbes China also selected him as one of the Top 10 Most Respected Entrepreneurs in China by in 2009. Ma received the 2009 CCTV Economic Person of the Year: Business Leaders of the Decade Award.
- In October 2017, Ma was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Science in Technopreneurship from De La Salle University Manila, Philippines.
- Ma has often been invited to lecture at universities such as the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Peking University.
- He started learning English on his own at a very young age. He used to practice his English-speaking skills by conversing with speakers at Hangzhou International Hotel.
- For 9 years, he used to travel 70 miles on his cycle so as to give tourists tour of the local area.
- He got his well-known name Jack Ma from one of his pen pals who was one of the foreign tourists. His pal decided to name him Jack as he found it hard to remember and pronounce his Chinese name.
- In his youth, he struggled a bit with his studies as he had to give college entrance exams for 4 consecutive years before he could eventually get admission in one college.
- After completion of his college studies, he struggled to find a job as his applications for about 30 different jobs were rejected.
- He once applied for a job in KFC but was rejected after an interview while the other 23 applicants were selected, leaving him with an unenviable label of being the only rejection.
- He realized the power of Internet after an ugly website that he had created related to China got him numerous positive response within hours of website’s deployment.
- His first entrepreneurial venture was a company named China Yellow Pages that he had started with $20,000, which he had raised with the assistance of his wife and a friend.
- The China Yellow Pages managed to earn about US$800,000 within three years of the official launch.
- In 1998, he was hired to head an IT company set up by the China International Electronic Commerce Center, which falls under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. He quit his job in 1999.
- In 1999, he moved back to his hometown and started Alibaba at his apartment. He had roped in a group of his 18 friends to start the company.
- After his company managed to raise over $25 billion in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014, it became the first company in the history to raise such an amount in an IPO.
- He has been invited to deliver lectures at the prestigious universities such as the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Peking University.
- In 2007, Jack was the target of criticism and worldwide protests after his firm raked in enormous profits from the sale of animal products. Jack responded by announcing that products with shark flesh won’t be sold on Alibaba.
- At the event held to celebrate Alibaba’s 18th year of establishment in September 2017, he dressed up like Michael Jackson and performed on American popstar’s hit single, Thriller on stage.
- Ma showed off his martial arts skills in the short film, On That Night… While We Dream(originally titled as Gong shou dao). It was released in the US in February 2018.
- In 2017, he was placed on the second spot in the Fortune Magazine’s list featuring World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.
- Although he has amassed his fortune due to the immense success of his e-commerce website, he has often professed that he has limited knowledge of technology and his technical competence is limited to sending and receiving emails.
- He is reported to have got his first computer at the age of 33.
- He first heard about the Internet in 1994 and was introduced to it in 1995 by his friends during his visit to the United States.
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