Jack Ma is the founder and former chairman of Alibaba Group, one of the world’s largest e-commerce and technology conglomerates. Born on September 10, 1964, in Hangzhou, China, his real name is Ma Yun. He grew up with one older brother and one younger sister. Ma graduated from Hangzhou Normal University in 1988 and later completed his studies at the Hong Kong Graduate School of Business in 2006.

In 1972, the visit of then U.S. President Richard Nixon to Hangzhou brought an influx of foreign tourists to the city. At that time, young Jack Ma had a strong fascination with the English language, yet there were no schools or textbooks available for learning English. Determined to find a way, he began visiting the only hotel in the city that accommodated foreign tourists—Hangzhou Hotel (today known as Hangzhou Shangri-La Hotel). For nine years, Ma went there every morning, offering free tour guide services to tourists in exchange for English lessons. The nickname “Jack” was given to him by a tourist friend, as his real name, Ma Yun, was difficult for foreigners to pronounce.

After nine years of voluntary guiding, Jack Ma became pen pals with an Australian family and later visited Australia upon their invitation. These experiences broadened his worldview and made him more sensitive to global perspectives.

Throughout his youth, Jack Ma faced numerous rejections. He applied to become a police officer; out of five applicants, four were accepted—he was the only one rejected. At a local KFC branch in his hometown, 23 out of 24 applicants were hired; again, he was the only one turned down. He also failed the university entrance exam twice. Despite these setbacks, he graduated in 1988 from the English Department of Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute and began working as an English teacher at a local university.

Until 1995, Jack Ma had little interest in computers or the internet. That year, while visiting Seattle, Washington, in the United States as a translator for Chinese companies, he encountered the internet for the first time. When a friend showed him how to search online, Ma typed in “beer” and saw results from many countries—but none from China. He then searched “China” and found nothing. This moment inspired him to say, “Why don’t we create something about China?” Upon returning home, he launched a website for an English translation agency. Positive feedback convinced him that internet entrepreneurship was the future.

The name “Alibaba” was conceived during a trip to the United States. Jack Ma believed that since the internet was global, the company should have a universally recognizable name. While having lunch in San Francisco, he asked a waitress if she knew the story of Alibaba. She replied, “Of course—Open Sesame.” He asked several more people on the street, all of whom were familiar with Alibaba and the Forty Thieves. Ma decided it was the perfect name. Additionally, he liked that it started with the letter “A,” ensuring visibility in alphabetical listings.

In 1995, together with He Yibing, an IT teacher, Jack Ma founded China Pages, a website listing information about Chinese companies. Despite being criticized for its design, the site earned the partners a total of 800,000 dollars. Interestingly, during this time, Ma did not own a computer and bought his first one only in 1997. Throughout his career, he never wrote a single line of code or personally sold products. Instead, his strength lay in assembling the right people and guiding them with a clear vision aligned with the demands of the era.

After several business experiments, Jack Ma founded Alibaba in April 1999 with 17 friends and an initial capital of 60,000 dollars. The company quickly achieved success and attracted investments from major firms such as SoftBank and Goldman Sachs. In 2003, Alibaba launched Taobao, an online marketplace similar to eBay. Observing Taobao’s rapid growth, eBay made an acquisition offer, which Ma declined.

What began with 18 people working out of Jack Ma’s apartment has grown into an organization operating across four major campuses with around 30,000 employees in China and nearly 100,000 employees worldwide. Alibaba Group’s subsidiaries include Alibaba.com, Taobao Marketplace, Tmall, eTao, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, AliExpress.com, and Alipay, each reaching multi-billion-dollar valuations.

In the late 1990s, Jack Ma befriended Jerry Yang, the founder of Yahoo!, and exchanged ideas about the future of the internet. In 2005, Yahoo! acquired 40% of Alibaba for 1 billion dollars.

Jack Ma served as both chairman and CEO of Alibaba from its founding in April 1999 until May 2019. On September 19, 2014, Alibaba made history with a 24.7-billion-dollar initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the largest IPO of all time.

According to Forbes figures dated January 6, 2021, Jack Ma had an estimated net worth of 59.5 billion dollars, making him the richest person in China and the 20th richest person in the world at that time.

On September 10, 2019, Jack Ma retired as chairman of Alibaba’s board, handing over leadership to Daniel Zhang, also known as Yong Zhang. Beyond Alibaba, Ma has investments in various sectors, including shares in the Chinese media and entertainment company Huayi Brothers.

Jack Ma officially retired on September 10, 2019, in a ceremony attended by 80,000 people, during which he surprised employees by performing songs dressed like a rock star.

Jack Ma married Zhang Ying in 1988, whom he met during his university years. The couple has one daughter and one son.

Jack Ma’s Five Inspirational Quotes:
1-) “We will succeed because we are young and we never, never give up.”
2-) “It doesn’t matter if I fail. At least I can pass on the lessons of failure to others. Even if I fail, someone else will succeed.”
3-) “If you don’t give up, you still have a chance. And if you are small, you should focus on your brain, not your strength.”
4-) “If we are a good team and know what we want to do, one of us can defeat ten of them.”
5-) “Today is cruel. Tomorrow is even crueler. But the day after tomorrow is beautiful.”

Source: Biyografiler.com