Jack Ma

From teacher to internet entrepreneur

Ma grew up in Hangzhou and taught himself English by spending time with foreign visitors. He failed China's university entrance exam twice before attending Hangzhou Teachers College, later worked as an English teacher and encountered the internet during a trip to the United States in 1995. ^[2]

His first internet company, China Pages, did not become the business that made his fortune. Ma returned to Hangzhou in 1999 and launched Alibaba with a founding team of 18 people, raising roughly $60,000 from local investors to build a marketplace connecting Chinese businesses with buyers. ^[2][1]

Alibaba expanded from its original wholesale marketplace into a broader commerce and technology group, adding businesses such as Taobao, cloud services and other digital infrastructure. The company describes its original mission as making it easier for small businesses to compete through the internet, a theme that remained central as Alibaba scaled. ^[1]

The capital raised from Ma's cofounders and other early investors also means Alibaba's later enterprise value was never equivalent to Ma's personal wealth. His fortune came from the ownership interest retained as the company scaled, while outside capital and shared founder ownership limited how much of the business value could be attributed to him individually. ^[2][1]