From Earning $1/Hour to Building a Global E-commerce Behemoth, How Jack Ma Did It
Billionaire Jack Ma, the man behind China's e-commerce revolution and $25 billion to his name, had a very different life from the lavish existence he leads now. Born in Hangzhou, China, in 1964, into a poor family, today, he owns a 50% interest in Alipay and a 7.8% investment in Alibaba.
Alibaba is worth more than Facebook, and the total amount of items exchanged on Alibaba is larger than that of eBay and Amazon combined. Even though Jack Ma has achieved so much and has all those big numbers, he has also faced some tough challenges in life. That's what makes his story so inspiring.
Early life and struggles
Ma, a gifted young child with a love of English, spent his teenage years earning just $1 per hour by providing tourist tours to hone his language skills. Ma achieved academic success despite his financial struggles. In 1988, he received his degree in English from Hangzhou Normal University. His passion to grow and better himself drove him to set out on a path of achievement early in life. He made a concerted effort to converse with visitors even as a teenager to improve his English. Later, he went on to study at Hangzhou Normal University, where he graduated with a degree in English. He also attended Beijing's Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business since he wanted to continue his education.
Jack Ma was rejected from jobs like KFC and the police force. He failed the entrance exam for Hangzhou Teachers College twice before landing a job teaching English at Hangzhou Dianzi University, making only $12 a month. In 1995, he discovered computers and the internet in the US. Back in China, where tech was rare and the internet expensive, he started China Pages, one of the first web-based businesses. Jack Ma believed China needed to get online and use business software to catch up with the rest of the world.
Journey of Jack Ma's growth and success
In China's competitive job market, Jack Ma faced many rejections before finding success with Alibaba, his third attempt at an internet business. Jack Ma's ideas and hard work with Alibaba revolutionized online shopping in China, boosting the country's economy. Funding was a hurdle. Ma convinced 17 strangers, including his former teachers and friends, to invest in Alibaba. He got $20 million from SoftBank and $5 million from Goldman Sachs in 1999— a decision that changed their lives forever. Alibaba's success was phenomenal. By 2003, it had secured a record-breaking investment of $25 million from Yahoo, a major validation of Ma's vision.
In 2003, Ma launched Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer platform modeled after eBay. Taobao became a household name in China, with millions flocking to its virtual marketplace.
Ma's ambition didn't stop there. He established Alipay, a secure online payment platform, in 2004, a digital wallet that lets people pay for things online safely and easily, addressing a critical trust gap in China's e-commerce landscape. In 2014, Alibaba made a historic IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, raising a staggering $25 billion—the largest IPO in history at that time.
Today, Alibaba is a multinational tech giant encompassing e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital media. While Ma stepped down as executive chairman in 2019, his influence remains. As of February 2024, his net worth is estimated at $30.1 billion, making him the sixth-wealthiest person in China.
