For an explanation of what Alibaba does and why it is causing companies likes eBay and Amazing shake in their boots, please check out this article: What Is Alibaba.com? For a recap of the life story of Jack Ma, please check out this article: How A Former English Tutor Became The Richest Person In China. Jack Ma is a former English tutor who 20 years ago was making $15 an hour teaching at a local university. He first encountered the internet while on vacation in the US in 1995. Upon his return to China, Jack launched an ultimately unsuccessful version of a Chinese Yellow Pages. But he was undeterred! In 1999, Jack gathered 18 friends and family members into his one bedroom apartment and pitched them on his vision for a new company called Alibaba.com. At the end of the presentation, Jack had raised $60,000. Fast forward to the present and Jack Ma owns 6.4% of the Alibaba Group, roughly 160 million shares. As of this writing, those shares alone are worth $14.6 billion. He also controls an additional 35 million shares, worth $3.2 billion, that have been set aside for a non profit organization called the SymAsia Foundation. In addition to his stake in Alibaba, Jack owns 48.5% of a company called Zheijang Ant Small % Micro Financial which is a holding company for an entity called Alipay. Alipay is essentially China’s version of Paypal. Alipay is currently valued at $25 billion, which puts another $12.1 billion into Jack’s pockets. When you combine Jack’s $12.1 billion Alipay stake with his $14.6 billion Alibaba stake, you’ll arrive at his total net worth of $27 billion. That makes him the richest person in China, topping the former leader by more than $10 billion. Coincidentally, $27 billion also makes jack the 27th richest person in the world. What are the odds of that?
