Jack Ma is a Chinese business magnate and philanthropist who is the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. He was born in 1964 and grew up poor, learning English at age 12 to become more globalized. In 1995, he was introduced to the internet and discovered a lack of Chinese business data online, leading him to launch Alibaba on a $2000 loan. Despite having no money, technology, or plan, Alibaba survived and expanded rapidly, developing export products for Chinese companies. Ma now has a net worth of $21.8 billion and has received numerous honors and awards for his accomplishments and influence.
1. Jack Ma
by: Madi Lopez, Cori Saunders, Gianna Marciano, Ashley Wilson
2. Biography
● Born Oct. 15th 1964, grew up poor
● 12yrs old learned English to become more globalized
● 1985 spent a month with a family in Australia
● After college became an English teacher
3. Alibaba
● In 1995, was shown the internet for the first time.
● Discovered there was no data on China.
● Launched a website and registered as China Pages and borrowed $2,000
to set up the company.
● Named it Alibaba because it was easy to spell--everyone associates it with
“open,sesame”
● Survived because they had no money, no technology and no plan.
● Alibaba expanded really fast.
● They developed a product for China exporters to meet U.S. buyers. By
2002 they had made $1 in profit.
4. Accomplishments
● Net Worth $21.8 Million
● Richest Man in China
● 2004- Top 10 Business Leader of the Year
● 2005- Young Global Leader, 30 Worlds Best CEO
● 2006- Graduated from Cheung Kong Graduate School
● 2009 and 2014- Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People in the World
● 2010- Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy by Forbes
● 2013- Doctoral Degree by Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology
● 2014- Ranked 30th Most Powerful Person in the World by Forbes
6. Struggles
● Before starting Alibaba, he had no money, no set plan and no technology
● According to Jack Ma, he considers the company “1,001 mistakes”
Why?
● Expanded too fast
● Had too many employees (had to lay people off)
● Didn’t have enough paying users to make money
7. Struggles & Solutions
● In 2002, he dealt with fraud issues causing protesters to bombard his
home and workplace
o Needs to stay relevant in such a competitive industry
o Don’t get distracted
o Stay competitive in the $173 Chinese e-commerce market
