Alibaba’s charismatic co-founder and chairman Jack Ma plans to retire from the Chinese e-commerce giant on Monday to devote his time to philanthropy focused on education, he told the New York Times in an interview.

Ma was an English teacher before starting Alibaba in 1999 and built it into a multibillion-dollar internet colossus, becoming one of the world’s richest men and a revered figure in his homeland.

His own worth has soared along with that of the company, which has added cloud computing, films, and e-payments to its growing portfolio and was valued at $420.8 billion when the stock market closed on Friday.

Ma told The New York Times that he plans to step down from the company on Monday — his 54th birthday — referring to his departure as “the beginning of an era” rather than an end.

Ma, who gave up the title of CEO in 2013, said he now planned to devote his time and fortune to education. He is among China’s richest men with a net worth of around $40 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The way he chose to make the announcement was unusual. The New York Times is blocked in China by Communist Party censors and there was no official statement from Alibaba on Saturday.

Alibaba’s press office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The firm posted a photo on social media on Saturday of Ma meeting with the chairman of the Moutai liquor company.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV released on Friday, Ma hinted at his retirement plans, saying he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the world’s most prolific philanthropists.

“There’s a lot of things I can learn from Bill Gates. I can never be as rich, but one thing I can do better is to retire earlier,” he said.

“I think someday, and soon, I’ll go back to teaching,” he said, adding he had been preparing philanthropy plans at his eponymous foundation “for 10 years”.

Ma is part of a generation of billionaire entrepreneurs who made their fortunes as China embraced the digital age, creating some of the country’s largest and most successful companies in the space of little more than a decade.

Huge conglomerates like Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, and JD.com are to China what Facebook and Google are to the United States.

Ma is the first of his generation of uber-wealthy tech bosses to retire, a rare move in a country where business figures often run their empires well into their 80s — Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing only retired in May at the age of 89.

An accidental entrepreneur

Ma’s rags-to-riches story is particularly remarkable.

Born into a poor family in Hangzhou, eastern Zhejiang province, Ma became a university teacher but gave the job up after discovering the internet.

After being knocked back by US venture capitalists in 1999, a cash-strapped Ma persuaded friends to give him $60,000 to start Alibaba, which operated out of an apartment in Hangzhou.

“The first time I used the internet, I touched on the keyboard and I find ‘well, this is something I believe, it is something that is going to change the world and change China,’” Ma once told CNN.

The company, still headquartered in his hometown, initially allowed businesses to sell products to each other online but soon morphed into China’s largest online retail market.

It transformed how Chinese people shop and pay for things, especially through the now ubiquitous Alipay digital payment service.

The Alibaba empire now spans well beyond online retail and payments to include cloud computing, digital media, and entertainment, with sterling revenue growth that jumped another 61 percent in the quarter ending June 30.

Jackson Wong, associated director at Huarong International Securities, said Ma’s departure appears “a little bit rushed” but it also shows he has confidence in the company’s leadership.

“But his retirement will definitely affect the overall image of the company because when you think of Alibaba, you think of Jack Ma,” Wong told AFP.

China regulations

Ma has inspired strong devotion among his employees and users, drawing comparisons with late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs — although he practiced a more open management style.

A devotee of tai chi, he has made references to Chinese martial arts in both business strategy and corporate culture.

Chinese state media have burnished his rags-to-riches story, saying his parents were poorly educated and his father depended on a monthly retirement allowance of just $40 to support the family.

Ma’s retirement comes after a torrid couple of weeks for his rival tech CEOs in China.

Richard Liu, the billionaire founder of Alibaba’s main competitor JD.com, was briefly arrested in the US over a rape allegation last week. He was released and returned to China, although the investigation remains active.

Meanwhile, internet and gaming giant Tencent, an e-payment rival, has seen its profits and share price drop amid an apparent regulatory squeeze on the tech giant’s online gaming business.

Source: https://readandgetpaid.com/alibaba-co-founder-jack-ma-announces-plans-to-retire-at-54-the-guardian/

Hi, I would like to retire at 40 why because I'm my own boss. Be your own boss like this man it takes him digital skills to achieve this. Learn free digital skills today contact me on WhatsApp for details.

One thing I don't agree with billionaires is retirement to being a philanthropist.

Philanthropism is becoming a new business field. They buy educational tools and health facilities from companies they already have shares in.

He has made money.

Too much money...

Alibaba my hero

Mr Jack please coman buy off this country

He has achieved a lot in life

I am going to be richer than Jack Ma..

You can't get to this level of wealth with Yahoo Yahoo and fake ritual tales.

me no understand so e go give out him own shares in Alibaba for us to buy things for free...

9jayes:
Hi

space booker

Ok

He has worked quite hard AFAIK.

I am available for Graphic Design and Web Development Commissions

AliExpress

I wish the black man would have the initiative of stepping down at peak of success rather than hold on in greed till the ovation fades off.

Good man

sellamarket:
Ma told The New York Times that he plans to step down from the company on Monday — his 54th birthday — referring to his departure as “the beginning of an era” rather than an end...

After being knocked back by US venture capitalists in 1999, a cash-strapped Ma persuaded friends to give him $60,000 to start Alibaba, which operated out of an apartment in Hangzhou.

Thanks for sharing

It takes wisdom to know when to move on to the next phase of your life.

By the way, one wonders how those venture capitalists felt as they watched the start-up they had rejected grow into this conglomerate...

Aydesmond:
space booker

Booker of space

Things like this happen in a country where things work
Greed will not allow folks like Buhari at over 70 to retire even though they never had anything meaningful to offer this nation.

Are we just mad in this country or we have been bewitched?

He's done a good job

ok

See better human being


Somewhere in African, octogenarian senile old fools are still clinging to power like their lives depends on it.



Even some so-called daddy g.o won't live church business and politics that they garner with members money.

Ali baba used what he have to get what he wants.

Nukilia:
Things like this happen in a country where things work
Greed will not allow folks like Buhari at over 70 to retire even though they never had anything meaningful to offer this nation.

Are we just mad in this country or we have been bewitched?

Nigeria is at the Beck and call of greedy politicians, they are not ready to make the country great, it is all about personal interest and to continously rape the country

9jayes:
Hi, I would like to retire at 40 why because I'm my own boss. Be your own boss like this man it takes him digital skills to achieve this. Learn free digital skills today contact me on WhatsApp for details.

40?
Lmao . Joke of the year

Made men



No gold chains

Seen

naijapips04:
I am going to be richer than Jack Ma..

You can't get to this level of wealth with Yahoo Yahoo and fake ritual tales.

MeToo