Wikipedia (en)
Jack Ma Yun (Chinese: 马云; pinyin: Mǎ Yún; born 10 September 1964) is a Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. In addition, he co-founded Yunfeng Capital, a Chinese private equity firm. As of November 2022, with a net worth of $21.7 billion, Ma is the fourth-wealthiest person in China (after Zhong Shanshan, Ma Huateng and Zhang Yiming), as well as the 36th wealthiest person in the world, ranked by Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Ma graduated from Hangzhou Normal University. He became an English lecturer and international trade lecturer at Hangzhou Dianzi University after graduation. Taking an interest in the internet, he founded his first company in 1994, later founding a second company after learning more about the internet. From 1998 to 1999, he headed an information company founded by the government, later leaving it to found the Alibaba Group with his colleagues in 1999. Initially founded as B2B marketplace site, the company later expanded to a wide range of areas, including e-commerce, technology, and online payment.
In 2017, Ma was ranked second in the annual "World's 50 Greatest Leaders" list by Fortune. He has widely been considered as an informal global ambassador for Chinese business, and is an influential figure for the community of startup businesses. 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. In 2020, the Chinese government stopped plans for an IPO for a company he founded called Ant Group after he delivered a speech that criticized regulators.In 2019, Forbes named Ma in its list of "Asia's 2019 Heroes of Philanthropy" for his work supporting underprivileged communities in China, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. In April 2021, Jack Ma ranked 26th in the "2021 Forbes Global Rich List" with a fortune of US$48.4 billion.
