Biography - Jack Ma

Who is Jack Ma?

Jack Ma is a Chinese wealthy businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of the Alibaba Group and a billionaire.

Jack Ma – Age, Family, Education

Jack Ma was born on September 10, 1964, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. He learned English from an English speaker at the Hangzhou international hotel. He was nicknamed "Jack" by a foreigner. 

Ma's father is Ma Laifa, a photographer and his mother's name is Cui Wencai, a factory worker. He has two siblings- an older brother and a younger sister.

Education, Ethnicity

During school, he failed primary school tests twice and thrice his elementary school test. Jack Ma graduated from Hangzhou Normal University B.A. in English as a major in 1988. He spent four years to pass Hangzhou Teacher's Institute as a lecturer of English at Hangzhou Dianzi.

His ethnicity is Chinese.

Jack Ma – Career

Ma's career startup was not good. He applied for 30 different jobs but was rejected from all. He went for a job as a police officer but was rejected and went to KFC for a job but all other 23 applicants got a job except him.  But he did not give up.

Ma went to the USA in 1994 with his friends. There he was surprised to see that there was no information regarding his home country. He and his friend created a rather unpleasant website to give information regarding China.

And within 3 hours multiple emails were received from multiple investors. They started their first company by raising $20,000 and within 3 years the company made $800,000. 

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In 1998, Jack Ma was chosen as the head of the Information technology company. The company was indeed created by the China International Electronic Commerce Center, which is a department of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. 

In 1999 Jack Ma left his job and founded Alibaba, a China-based business marketplace website with a group of 18 friends and won $25 million in foreign venture capital investment. 

With hard work, they perfected Alibaba, an e-commerce website, and also founded Taobao Marketplace, Alipay, Ali Mama, and Lynx. eBay tried to purchase their company but they turned them down. Instead, they received $1 billion in investment support from Yahoo.

Ma started his acting career with the short film Gong Shou Dao which was shown on the Double 11 Shopping Carnival Singles' Day. He also reportedly sang and danced during Alibaba's 18th-anniversary party.

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Jack Ma – Girlfriend, Wife, Children, Divorce

Jack Ma met his wife Zhang Ying in college and married her shortly afterward in the year 1988. They were blessed with two children, a son Ma Yuankun born in 1992, and a daughter Ma Yuanbao.

Ma Yuanbao is a graduate of Berkeley University in California. 

Jack Ma – Awards, Political involvement

Jack Ma was awarded a doctoral degree by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in November 2013 and was named The Entrepreneur of the Year in 2015.

Ma was identified as a member of the Communist Party of China in November 2018.

Jack Ma – Net Worth

His net worth has been estimated at around $22 billion while the figures on his annual salary have not been shared with the public.

Jack Ma – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

On social media, Jack Ma is absent from Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, at least from the public eye.

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