Jack Ma

Jack Ma
Jack Ma, 2008 at World Economic Forum
Native name	马云 (Mǎ Yún)
Born	(1964-09-10) 10 September 1964 (age 52) Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Residence	Hangzhou
Alma mater	Hangzhou Normal University, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
Occupation	Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group
Net worth	US$22 billion
Spouse(s)	张瑛 (Cathy Zhāng Yīng)
Children	2

Ma Yun (Chinese: 马云, [mà y̌n]; born September 10, 1964), known professionally as Jack Ma, is a Chinese business magnate who is the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a family of successful Internet-based businesses. He is the first mainland Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of Forbes.

Ma was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Ma started to study English at a young age and practiced English daily by conversing with English-speakers at Hangzhou hotel which was around 100 miles from his home. He would give them tours around the city for free to improve his English. He did this for nine years. He became pen pals with one of those foreigners, who nicknamed him "Jack" because he found it hard to pronounce his Chinese name.

Later in his youth, Ma struggled to attend college. The Chinese entrance exams are held only once a year and it took Ma four years to pass. After that, Ma attended Hangzhou Teacher's Institute (currently known as Hangzhou Normal University) and graduated in 1988 with a B.A. in English. While at school, Ma was the head of student council. After graduation, he became a lecturer of English and International Trade at Hangzhou Dianzi University. He later enrolled at Beijing-based Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and graduated in 2006.

After graduation, Ma applied for 30 different jobs and got rejected by all. "I went for a job with the police; they said, 'you're no good,'" Mr. Ma told interviewer Charlie Rose. "I even went to KFC when it came to my city. Twenty-four people went for the job. Twenty-three were accepted. I was the only guy...". In addition he applied 10 times for Harvard and got rejected.

1994, Mr. Ma heard about the Internet. In early 1995, he went to the US and with his friends' help he got introduced to the Internet. During his first encounter he searched the word "beer". Although he found information related to beer from many countries, he was surprised to find none from China. Further, he tried to search for general information about China and again was surprised to find none. So he and his friend created an "ugly" website related to China. Within five hours of creating the website he had received emails from some Chinese wishing to know about him. This is when Ma realized that the Internet had something great to offer. In April 1995, Mr. Ma, his wife and a friend went around, asked for USD 20,000, and started their first company. Their company was dedicated to creating websites for companies. He named their company "China Yellow Pages." Within three years, his company had made 5,000,000 Chinese Yuan which was equivalent to USD 800,000.