The true outisder of the technological world founded Alibaba after leaving his life as an English teacher. The story behind the richest man in China
24.09.2019 • 17:21hs • Upstatories
Upstatories
They threw him out of all jobs, today he has $ 40 billion: the incredible story of Jack Ma, owner of Alibaba
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"Isn't that my English teacher?", More than one young man would have asked himself when he saw his former teacher, Ma Yun - who in his teens would adopt his artistic alter ego Jack Ma - ring the mythical bell of the Stock Exchange from New York.
The Chinese entrepreneur truly forged himself as an outsider of the great techie industry, without any knowledge in programming or in any technology. However, he managed to make his way to making Alibaba one of the most important e-commerce companies in the world.
Charismatic for his performances at the signature parties and controversial for his staunch defense of the work culture until the wee hours, Ma is one of the great contemporary figures of the Asian country. This year will not be one more, since in September he will definitely leave the chair of executive president.
The beginnings
When he grew up he would collect millions of dollars, but as a child, Ma preferred to gather crickets and classify them according to their color and sound. He was born in a low-income family and often fought at school against anyone who tried to bother him.
Hangzhou, his hometown, was a tourist center and Ma traveled several kilometers every day to earn tickets as a guide for travelers when he was only 12 years old. In return, tourists taught him English, one of them would be the one who baptized him ‘Jack’.
The demanding Chinese education system tricked a student who was more creative and persevering than applied in the studies. In fact, he could hardly enter high school.
"I passed key elementary exams twice and did not pass high school exams three times. These are some of the things that most of us never had to tell their parents," he recalls.
Then came the turn of higher academic training. And what is surprising is not that he has been rejected from Harvard 10 times but has made the attempt so many times. "The most important thing you should have is persistence," is the motto that this business giant repeats every time they ask for advice.
Finally, he took the exam for Hangzhou Normal University where he earned a degree in English Letters.
Ma tried to find work in 30 different places and in each and every one of them rejected him. He even tried to be a police officer but in the academy he was simply told "you're not good". Moreover, from a base of 24 candidates for the KFC fast food restaurant, 23 were hired. Jack Ma was the only one who was not accepted (see video)
Two facts marked him and outlined his path in the business world. The first was the one that opened his mind. With 12 years, he met an Australian family with whom he made good crumbs and a time later he received an invitation to visit her. "They had taught me that China was the best and richest country in the world. That trip led me to think differently," he says.
The other trip would be the most iconic in the history of Alibaba: the one that made Seattle in 1995. The story is known: Ma tried to search for 'beer' on the web, however he did not find any Chinese brand and it was then that he decided to create his Internet company itself in your country.
"I didn't know anything about technology or management. But you don't have to know but find people smarter than you. When hiring, I'm looking for people smarter than me. Who five years later could be my boss. I like them to be positive and never give up. Then my job is to make sure I work as a team, "he says.
However, their first two ventures did not have the expected result. The most successful was China Pages, an online directory, in which it invested $ 2,000. Soon, China Telecom offered us $ 185,000 for a joint venture.
The distribution of chairs in the directory was not equitable and Ma's opinion was not heard, so he ended up leaving his place. "I've never seen so much money together, that's why I accepted," he explains.
Appealing to his charisma and his ability to convince, he gathered 17 friends in 1998 and told them about his idea of creating a marketplace for users to publish their products and sell them directly, without intermediaries. On the other side of the Pacific, the company of one Jeff Bezos was already publicly traded.
Ma managed to raise $ 60,000 with the founding group and thus began the path of Alibaba. Soon there would be an injection of $ 5 million from Goldman Sachs, another $ 8 million from GGV Capital and in 2000 he managed to get SoftBank, a heavyweight in startup funding, to disburse $ 20 million to empower the firm.
Although it diversified and today also records revenue from cloud computing, entertainment and innovation, 85% of its turnover corresponds to commerce, an item composed of 63% for retail and 22% for wholesale.
During its last fiscal year, it reported a revenue of US $ 56,000 million. In recent years, mobile users grew strongly and that in 2018 had 720 million monthly active users who accessed their platform from their cell phones.
Ma quickly understood the potential of smartphones and was the pioneer, with his Alipay service, of electronic mobile payment, now ubiquitous in China, earning a reputation as a visionary. With its online sales platforms Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba currently controls around 60% of the Chinese online market.
In 2005, Yahoo invested US $ 1 billion to keep 40% of Alibaba. This would mark the beginning of a stormy relationship, with fights and betrayals. The link had worn out after a few years of relationship (they shared the management of Yahoo China), and everything got worse when Carol Bartz was appointed CEO of the US company in 2009.
In September 2012, the Chinese businessman repurchased a large part of his share for $ 6.3 billion in cash and $ 800 million in preferred shares; In April 2019, Yahoo finally got rid of all its participation.
The future of work
‘Mr. Internet ’, nickname they put in China, is a strong advocate of work from sun to sun. Amid the controversy over the 996 work model, which implies a 9am to 9pm day six days a week, Ma says this is "a blessing." And it expands: "Without this system, China will lose its vitality and momentum."
He fervently believes that the employment of the future will be dominated by machines, he even dreams of a robot CEO. "Computers are smarter than us, they don't get mad at anything and remember everything," he says.
On the other side is the Ma showman. This facet of his does not blush if he has to dress in punk, with a wig and makeup, at the Alibaba annual talent show. Nor does he do it at the time of looke as Michael Jackson and imitate the dance steps of the ‘pop king’.
Kung fu is one of his passions, and that is why he financed a short film in which he acted alongside two mythical figures of martial arts cinema, Jet Li and Donnie Yen.
From earning just $ 15 per month as a teacher to being the richest man in China, with a fortune that exceeds $ 40 billion, according to Bloomberg's billionaire ranking. Ma retired from Alibaba's executive management in 2013, since it was left to Daniel Zhang, the mind behind Single Day.
On September 10, 2018, the day of his 55th birthday, he announced that he would leave the presidency of the group, a decision that would be effective for that same date but this year. Zhang, again, chosen to replace it. Meanwhile, Ma will become part of the foundation of the holding.
In one of the worst mistakes that any CEO can make, Jack Ma told his 18 partners (who injected a total capital for US $ 60,000) that none could be executive and that they should settle for being a manager, as their plan was to hire specialists for the board of directors.
This, Ma says, was the worst mistake of his life: "What I learned from the dark days of Alibaba is that you must make your team have value, innovation and vision." And he adds: "You will always have a chance to succeed if you don't give up. Giving up is the biggest loss."
Once he was asked about his history in the company and he replied: "If I write a book about Alibaba, it will be about the thousand and one failures I had."
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