Jack Ma is a 50 year old resident of Hangzhou, China
He currently holds the 33rd spot on Forbes’ list of billionaires, with a net worth of $22.3 billion
In September, he broke the record with a $25 billion initial public offering of e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group on the NY Stock Exchannge, which made him China’s richest man and enriched Alibaba’s shareholders Softbank and Yahoo
Background Info
Born in 1964 to parents who were Ping Tan performers
Failed College Entrance Exam twice before actually passing due to low math scores
Graduated from Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute in 1988 and was rejected from numerous jobs afterward, including a manager position at KFC
Learned English through the radio and also foreign travelers at a local hotel and eventually became an English teacher for $12 per month
Visited the United States for the first time in 1995
Ma started a translation business that was meant to help capitalize on the
export boom.
When a friend introduced him to the Internet he was amazed and shocked to learn very little about China was available.
Career, Etc.
He went back to China and created an internet venture for Chinese companies in
search of customers abroad but the site was a failure.
Ma then waited four years to try the internet for a second time this time creating the site Alibaba
2001 had to let go of entire international staff due to overspending
2013 stepped down as the CEO