Jack Ma was born in 1964 in Hangzhou, China and grew up during communist rule. He failed the college entrance exam twice but eventually graduated from the Hangzhou Teacher's Institute. After being rejected from many jobs, he became an English teacher. In 1999, he founded Alibaba with 17 friends to allow international companies to trade with each other. With the creation of Taobao, Alibaba surpassed eBay in China. Alibaba went public in 2014 and now has over 600 million customers globally, making Jack Ma's net worth an estimated $26 billion.

1. Background of Jack Ma and Alibaba
By Carlos Cordon, Kya Deadwyler, and Joseph Ancheta

2. JACK MA’S YOUTH
Jack ma was born on October 15, 1964 in Hangzhou, China.
Ma whose Chinese name is Ma Yun is the middle child to an older brother
and younger sister.
Ma grew up during the time communist China was separating from the West.

3. Jack had many hobbies such as cricket collecting and he was able to
tell the type and size of a cricket just by the noise it made.
When he was a teen he would offer visitor’s tours of Hangzhou in exchange
for English lessons.
He earned the nickname Jack by a tourist he befriended.
Continued…

4. He failed the entrance exam twice for college after high school.
After studying vigorously, Ma finally passed on his third attempt and
attended the Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute.
After graduating he applied to numerous jobs and received over
a dozen rejections.
Early Adulthood

5. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Graduated college in 1988
Never went to school in the U.S.
Rejected by Harvard University

6. ENGLISH PROFESSOR
First teaching job was at the Hangzhou Institute of Electronics Engineering
Became one of the more popular professors
Got paid $14 a month

7. ENGLISH PROFESSOR (CONT.)
He applied for KFC with 24 other applicants, he was the only one to not get the
job
After teaching, he finally got to visit the U.S. in 1995

8. Alibaba -Early Stages
Alibaba is an e-commerce giant created by Jack Ma in the year 1999
The company allows transactions between companies in different countries
Ex: an American company needing a product made in China would visit Alibaba
and make an order to import.
During the early stages, Goldmansachs invested $5 million followed by $20
million from a chairman of Japan’s SoftBank.

9. Facts about the early days of Alibaba
The ideology behind Alibaba was tested in other countries previous
to Jack Ma but were not successful
Jack Ma was able to start Aliaba with 17 friends that included
former students of his
Soon after Alibaba started to take flight, Jack Ma came up with
Taobao in an effort to create a “Chinese Ebay” which resulted a
success

10. Alibaba’s Rise to Success
With the creation of Taobao, Jack Ma took out Ebay out of business in
China
Jack Ma faced problems because he made decisions without the approval
of company stake holders but was successful in achieving his goals
Despite his growing wealth, Jack Ma is known to have a giver personality
and since day one, he was giving company equity to those who helped him
start
Jack Ma’s desire is to have a “great company that helps its customers,
creates jobs and serves society” as noted by the NY times article titled
Jack Ma on Alibaba, Entrepreneurs and the Role of Handstands.

11. Alibaba and the Stock-Market
Alibaba currently has 600 million customers in 240 countries.
With this success, Jack Ma currently has a net-worth of about
$26 billion.
Alibaba went public on September 19, 2014 with an initial
public offering of $68 and finished the day at $93.89.

13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYCVAyKX
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