Ma Yun
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Ma Yun (马云), also known as Jack Ma, the famous Chinese entrepreneur, is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Alibaba Group, one of Asia's largest online trading websites. He announced in an open letter on Jan. 15, 2013 that he will be relieved of his duties in May, 2013.
Born on Oct. 15, 1964, in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, Ma graduated from the Hangzhou Normal University in 1988, majoring in English with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
From 1988 to 1995, Ma taught English and international trade at the Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Engineering.
Between 1995 and 1997, Ma set up China Pages, widely regarded as China's first internet-based company.
From 1997 to 1999, Ma joined the China International E-Commerce Center under the then Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, to help develop its official website and online commodity trading market.
In 1999, Ma invested in establishing the Alibaba Group, an online enterprise-to-enterprise trading platform.
In May 2003, Alibaba invested in establishing the Taobao website, which has become the largest personal commodity trading website in China.
In November 2012, Taobao's online trading volume exceeded a trillion yuan (US$160.7 billion) and Ma was crowned with the title of "Trillionaire" in China.
On Jan. 15, 2013, Ma announced in an open letter to his employees that he will be relieved from the responsibility of his office as CEO of Alibaba on May 10, 2013.
Honors
Ma has revitalized Chinese and global business contents with his creative philosophy and works in the field of e-commerce, insiders analyzed. In July 2000, Ma became the first entrepreneur on the Chinese mainland to be mentioned in the cover story of Forbes, the authoritative financial and economic U.S. magazine, in 50 years. He was chosen as one of the "Top 100 Young Global Leaders of the Year 2001" by the World Economic Forum, and as the "Business Leader of the Year 2001" by the U.S. Asia Chamber of Commerce.
In May 2005, Ma graced the cover of Nikkei, Japan's most powerful financial and economic magazine. In December 2004, Ma was presented with the Economic Feature Award of the Year by China Central Television (CCTV). In 2009, he ranked 77th on the Hurun Global Rich List with his personal net assets amounting to 8 billion yuan. In 2012, Ma ranked eighth on the 50 Most Influential Business Leaders of American magazine FortuneChina,.
Posts
Ma also serves as chairman of the board of directors of Chinese Yahoo!, director of SoftBank Group, member of the Business Advisory Committee under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization (APEC), dean of the Alibaba Business College with Hangzhou Normal University, director of Huayi Bros. Media Group, and professor at Beijing Huaxia Management College.
Mottos
"Never give up," Ma always says. "It is difficult to start an enterprise, but even more difficult to keep it going. For some people, passion comes and goes quickly. I hope you can maintain this pioneering spirit for a lifetime."
