Jack Ma Yun (; born 10 September 1964) is a Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. In addition, he co-founded Yunfeng Capital, a Chinese private equity firm. As of January 2023, with a net worth of $34.1 billion, Ma is the fifth-wealthiest person in China (after Zhong Shanshan, Zhang Yiming, Ma Huateng and Robin Zeng), as well as the 34th wealthiest person in the world, ranked by Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Ma graduated from Hangzhou Normal University. He became an English lecturer and international trade lecturer at Hangzhou Dianzi University after graduation. Taking an interest in the internet, he established his first business in 1994, only to end up later founding a second company after learning more about the internet and the entrepreneurial possibilities that could be exploited from its emerging growth. From 1998 to 1999, he led an information company founded by the Chinese government, later leaving it to start the Alibaba Group with his colleagues in 1999. Initially founded as B2B e-commerce marketplace website, the high-tech company later expanded to a wide range of industry domains across the Chinese economy, including e-commerce, high-technology, and online payment solutions. In 2017, Ma was ranked second in the annual "World's 50 Greatest Leaders" list by Fortune. He has widely been considered as an informal global ambassador in Chinese business circles, and has continued to remain an influential figure in the Chinese business community and scene of startup companies. In September 2018, he announced that he would retire from Alibaba and pursue educational work, philanthropy, and environmental causes; the following year, Daniel Zhang succeeded him as executive chairman. In 2020, the Chinese government stopped plans for an IPO called for the digital payment solutions company Ant Group, a company that he founded after he delivered a speech that criticized Chinese financial regulators for putting too much priority in minimizing risk. In 2019, Forbes named Ma in its list of "Asia's 2019 Heroes of Philanthropy" for his humanitarian and philanthropic work supporting underprivileged communities in China, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. In April 2021, Jack Ma ranked 26th in the "2021 Forbes Global Rich List" with a fortune of $48.4 billion USD. Early life and education Ma was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang on September 10, 1964 as Ma Yun. He became interested in English