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 private equity firm. Ma is a strong proponent of an open and market-driven economy.
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 for Chinese business, and is an influential figure for the community of startup business. 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.
As of April 2021, with a net worth of $51.5 billion, Ma is the third-wealthiest person in China after Zhong Shanshan and Ma Huateng, as well as one of the wealthiest people in the world, ranked 26th by Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In 2019, Forbes named Ma in its list of “Asia’s 2019 Heroes of Philanthropy” for his work supporting underprivileged communities in China, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East.