Jack Ma

Jack Ma co-founded Alibaba Group in 1999, building it into a multinational technology conglomerate and pioneering China’s e-commerce landscape. Alongside 17 friends, he established the business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce marketplace, securing significant early investment of $25 million in seed capital from Goldman Sachs and SoftBank between 1999 and 2000. Prior to Alibaba, Ma demonstrated his entrepreneurial vision by founding Hangzhou Hope Translation Agency in 1994, followed by Hangzhou Hope Computer Services Co., Ltd., one of China’s earliest internet startups offering online yellow pages. He graduated from Hangzhou Normal University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and served as a lecturer at Hangzhou Dianzi University, with his early exposure to the internet in 1995 profoundly influencing his career trajectory.

In 2023, Ma became an invited professor at Tokyo College, University of Tokyo, while also visiting Yungu school in Hangzhou, China. His ongoing engagement with Alibaba saw him replace SoftBank as the company’s largest shareholder in 2024. In 2025, he attended a significant symposium with Chinese industry leaders hosted by Xi Jinping, underscoring his continued presence at the highest levels of commerce and policy.