Jack Ma is a Chinese entrepreneur who is the co-founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. He is also a philanthropist and a former English teacher.
In this article, we will take a look at Jack Ma’s life, from his humble beginnings to his current status as one of the richest men in the world.
Table of Contents:
1. Early Life
2. Career
3. Alibaba
4. Philanthropy
5. Personal Life
6. Net Worth
7. Top Jack Ma Quotes
Early Life
Jack Ma was born on September 10, 1964, in Hangzhou, China. His birth name was Ma Yun and he was the second of three children. His parents were traditional Chinese musicians who had very little formal education.
Ma Yun struggled academically in his early years and was often teased by his classmates. He failed his college entrance exam twice before finally being accepted to Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute (now Hangzhou Normal University) in 1988.
Career
After graduation, Ma Yun became an English teacher at a local university. He later started his own business, an English-language school called Hangzhou Dianzi University.
In 1995, Ma Yun took a trip to the United States. This trip would change his life forever. While in the US, he was introduced to the internet and was amazed by its potential.
When he returned to China, he started an internet company called China Yellowpages. However, the company was not successful.
In 1999, Ma Yun and a group of 17 other co-founders started Alibaba.com, a business-to-business marketplace. Alibaba.com was a huge success and soon became one of the largest internet companies in China.
In 2014, Alibaba went public on the New York Stock Exchange in one of the largest initial public offerings (IPOs) in history.
Alibaba
Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce giant that operates a number of online and offline businesses, including retail, payments, logistics, and cloud computing.
Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma and a group of 17 other co-founders. Alibaba.com, the company’s business-to-business marketplace, was a huge success and soon became one of the largest internet companies in China.
In 2014, Alibaba went public on the New York Stock Exchange in one of the largest initial public offerings (IPOs) in history.
Philanthropy
Jack Ma is a philanthropist and has donated billions of dollars to various causes.
In 2014, Ma Yun and his wife, Zhang Ying, founded the Jack Ma Foundation, a philanthropic organization that focuses on education and environmental protection.
The foundation has donated millions of dollars to various causes, including the construction of schools in rural China.
Personal Life
Jack Ma is married to Zhang Ying and they have two children.
In his spare time, Ma Yun enjoys playing tennis and badminton. He is also a Kung Fu fan and has a black belt in Taijiquan.
Net Worth
As of 2021, Jack Ma’s net worth is estimated to be $59.3 billion.
Top Jack Ma Quotes
“You need the right people with you, not the best people.” – Jack Ma
“When you are small, you have to be very focused and rely on your brain, not your strength.” – Jack Ma
If you want to invest in us, we believe customer number one, employee number two, shareholder number three. If they don’t want to buy that, that’s fine. If they regret, they can sell us. – Jack Ma
“Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.” – Jack Ma
“A peace talk is always difficult, always complicated.” – Jack Ma
“You’ve to make consumers smart. An e-commerce portal doesn’t sell a product at cheaper rates, instead an offline shop sells it at a costlier price.” – Jack Ma
“I don’t care about revenues. – Jack Ma
“Instead of learning from other people’s success, learn from their mistakes. Most of the people who fail share common reasons(to fail) whereas success can be attributed to various different kinds of reasons.” – Jack Ma
“We appreciate yesterday, but we’re looking for a better tomorrow.” – Jack Ma
17.“Opportunity lies in the place where the complaints are.” – Jack Ma
“You’ve got to make your team have value, innovation, and vision.” – Jack Ma
“We’re never in lack of money. We lack people with dreams, (people) who can die for those dreams.” – Jack Ma
A peace talk is always difficult, always complicated. – Jack Ma
“I’m not a tech guy. I’m looking at the technology with the eyes of my customers, normal people’s eyes.” – Jack Ma
“I’m a normal guy.” – Jack Ma
“Today, making money is very simple. But making sustainable money while being responsible to the society and improving the world is very difficult.” – Jack Ma
“We should never finish a 20 years program in two years.” – Jack Ma
“It doesn’t matter if I failed. At least I passed the concept on to others. Even if I don’t succeed, someone will succeed.” – Jack Ma
“I try to make myself happy because I know that if I’m not happy, my colleagues are not happy and my shareholders are not happy and my customers are not happy.” – Jack Ma
There are big problems that change the world. If we are working together, that will make us understand each other, appreciate each other, help each other. – Jack Ma
A trade war would be a disaster for the world. It’s very easy to slip into a trade war. – Jack Ma
A startup for entrepreneurs is like a baby, and I have five babies so far – experienced father. – Jack Ma
“Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.” – Jack Ma
“I call myself a blind man riding on a blind tiger.” – Jack Ma
“If you don’t give up, you still have a chance. Giving up is the greatest failure.” – Jack Ma
“If the customer loves you, the government will have to love you.” – Jack Ma
“If you’ve never tried, how will you ever know if there’s any chance?” – Jack Ma
“Never ever do business with the government. Be in love with them, never marry them.” – Jack Ma
“You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.” – Jack Ma
“Without internet, there would have been no Jack Ma, and no Alibaba or Taobao.” – Jack Ma
“Intelligent people need a fool to lead them. When the team’s all a bunch of scientists, it is best to have a peasant lead the way. His way of thinking is different. It’s easier to win if you have people seeing things from different perspectives.” – Jack Ma
“If we are a good team and know what we want to do, one of us can defeat ten of them.” – Jack Ma
I’m humble ’cause I think many years ago people say, ‘Well, Alibaba’s terrible company’. And I know we were not that terrible. We’re pretty good; we’re better than people thought. But today, when people have a high expectation on you, and I start to worry and nervous because we are not good yet. – Jack Ma
I’m not a tech guy. I’m looking at the technology with the eyes of my customers, normal people’s eyes. – Jack Ma
“You never know that the things you’re doing are that meaningful to society.” – Jack Ma
“The very important thing you should have is patience.” – Jack Ma
“You never know how much can you do in your life.” – Jack Ma
“When we have money, we start making mistakes.” – Jack Ma
“My job is to help more people have jobs.” – Jack Ma
“No matter how tough the chase is, you should always have the dream you saw on the first day. It’ll keep you motivated and rescue you (from any weak thoughts).” – Jack Ma
“I want to change history, do something important in my life, and influence individuals like we have with millions of small businesses on Alibaba. Then they love and respect you because you made their life important.”– Jack Ma
“I don’t want to be liked. I want to be respected.” – Jack Ma
“I don’t want people (in China) to have deep pockets but shallow minds.” – Jack Ma
“Life is so short, so beautiful. Don’t be so serious about work. Enjoy the lives.” – Jack Ma
Spending money is much more difficult than making money. – Jack Ma
I believe the most important thing for the media is to be objective, fair, and balanced. We should not report a story with preconceptions or prejudice. – Jack Ma
“It’s very difficult to know the outside world, but you know yourself. You know your need and what you want. If I know myself better, I can change myself to meet the outside world.” – Jack Ma
Today the financial market is no good, but the money is there. – Jack Ma
“Never ever compete on prices, instead compete on services and innovation.” – Jack Ma
“A leader should have higher grit and tenacity, and be able to endure what the employees can’t.” – Jack Ma