Top 7 Interesting Facts about Jack Ma

Bùi Lê Khánh Linh 14 0 Error

The chairman of Alibaba's record-breaking $25 billion IPO, which made it one of the biggest firms on the market, is Jack Ma, a friendly-looking 5-foot-tall ... read more...

  1. One of the interesting facts about Jack Ma is that he didn't do well in school. He nearly didn't enroll in middle school, in fact. "I failed a crucial elementary school test twice, a middle school test three times, and a college entrance exam twice," the student said. Ouch. Most of us are fortunate enough to have avoided saying any of these things to our parents. Surprisingly, Ma is not by herself. There is a history of brilliant people who struggled in school early on but went on to do great things, including Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Abraham Lincoln (along with Forrest Gump).


    Ma failed his university entrance exam twice, earning less than 1% in arithmetic, but he eventually passed and enrolled in the Hangzhou Teacher's Institute to study English. He applied for 30 jobs after receiving his degree but was unsuccessful in every one of them. Ma continued despite all of these setbacks and rejections. Ma established a translation agency based on his English proficiency and traveled to the US as a translator, where he first encountered the Internet. Ma, who has no experience with computers or coding, got intrigued by this new development at the moment.


    Ma came up with the concept of starting an internet store after noticing the dearth of Chinese beer in online search results. This inspired him to launch his second web firm, "Chinapage," which featured listings for Chinese companies and goods. This triggered a deluge of emails from people looking to collaborate from all around the world. Ma made the decision to collaborate with a government corporation in order to grow and get additional money. Unfortunately, once the firm took over the endeavor, Ma's vision for the company was suppressed, which resulted in his departure from the company.

    Photo:  BBC
    Photo: BBC
    Photo:  Computing and Commerce Association
    Photo: Computing and Commerce Association

  2. Nobody should ignore failure, especially not someone we look up to. These individuals learned, developed, and ultimately succeeded because of failure. Although we are aware of this about ourselves, sometimes we forget to acknowledge that even the most successful people in the world have experienced a great deal of failure.

    None of the traits associated with the traditional internet entrepreneur apply to Jack Ma. He didn't attend an Ivy League university, he didn't grow up with a computer at home, and he lives halfway across the world from Silicon Valley. Nevertheless, he is one of the richest men in the world and the founder and chairman of the phenomenally successful Alibaba Group. He is possibly the least likely candidate for his accomplishments and offers a great illustration of how failure can be the most important component of success. Due to his unconventional method of achievement, Crazy Jack has earned the moniker.

    One of the interesting facts about Jack Ma is that he selects one of the less likely candidates among the personalities to draw inspiration from. Forest Gump is a straightforward individual who embraces life with wide arms. He is rarely offended, and even fewer things actually frighten him. He maintains his positive outlook and integrity. Simple, but with a strong moral compass, ambition, and tenacity that inevitably leads to success, even if it seems to happen by accident. Jack Ma is that.

    "I've seen that movie around ten times. I watch the movie every time I'm frustrated", Ma added. Ma didn't do well in school but rose to fame as an entrepreneur, claiming to have the same simple heart as Forrest Gump, the successful businessman and military hero character played by Tom Hanks in the 1994 film.

    Photo: www.aarp.org
    Photo: www.aarp.org
    Photo: thanhnien.vn
    Photo: thanhnien.vn
  3. Ma was born in 1964 in Hangzhou, China, a city with a population of 2.4 million people close to Shanghai, to parents who earned a living as professional ping tan performers (a traditional style of storytelling and ballad singing).


    He got into arguments with classmates because he was bullied for his stature, but when it came to international tourists, he turned on the charm. He used to go to a neighborhood hotel every day to socialize and pick up English. In order to listen to the English program every day, he also purchased a radio.

    Ma, who was then 13 years old, would get up at 5 in the morning, and ride his bike 45 minutes to the former Hangzhou Hotel, where he would speak to foreigners and give them free tours because he was so desperate to learn the language. He improved his English and gained knowledge of "Western people's system, ways, methods, and procedures" through this exercise. He eventually changed careers though, and now teaches English at a nearby institution, earning approximately $12 per month.

    Ma eventually founded a translation business during China's export boom, which eventually brought him to the United States for the first time in 1995, when he learned about the Internet. His initial attempt at an online firm, China Pages, was eventually unsuccessful. According to The New York Times, Ma was forced into a joint venture with China Telecom and ultimately lost control of the business.
    Photo:  Elight Learning English
    Photo: Elight Learning English
    Photo:  CGTN
    Photo: CGTN
  4. He agreed to work as an interpreter in the United States in part to assist a buddy in recovering a debt from an American businessman. The merchant refused Ma's request for the payback. Instead, he kept Ma inside his home, pulled his firearm, and attempted to intimidate him into making a bargain.


    The events that followed resemble a Hollywood film more than an executive chairman's biography. Ma initially visited the United States while working as an interpreter in 1995. In the course of his business, he attempted to pay a loan owed to a buddy by an American businessman in Malibu, California. It turns out that this American tried to force Ma to make a deal by locking him in his home rather than paying back the debt. This man was obviously insane. "At one point he started messing with his firearm," said Jack Ma. It was clearly intended to be a threat which is one of the interesting facts about Jack Ma.

    Ma obeyed his orders while attempting to find a way out because he was afraid of what he thought was a gun-happy American "cowboy." Uncertain as to whether Jack was coerced into staying with the American, he made the decision to take Jack to Las Vegas a few days later as part of a "standard showcase trip" for Chinese businesspeople. It was obvious that Jack remained his prisoner.

    To make matters worse, Jack Ma decided to try his luck at the slot machines despite having nearly little cash on him. Unbelievably, Ma won $600; he miraculously managed to get away from the businessman, leaving everything behind with him. He then went to the airport and used his earnings to purchase a flight to Seattle, where his companion was waiting. "It was an awful experience... It's a genuine story that Ma claims, "I suffer nightmares every time I think of Los Angeles.
    Photo:  Lowy Institute
    Photo: Lowy Institute
    Photo:  VietNamNet
    Photo: VietNamNet
  5. Although Jack Ma is commonly acknowledged as the company's creator, there are really 17 additional co-founders, which is a little-known fact. Ma started his first online business in Beijing. He accompanied 12 former coworkers on a trip to the Great Wall before departing for his hometown of Hangzhou. Ma made the decision to copy it online after being struck by the sheer number of messages that had been written on the stone.


    In February 1999, Ma invited 17 colleagues—a mix of his former students, coworkers, friends, and like-minded businessmen—to his Hangzhou apartment to share his vision for a digital platform that would "revolutionize the Internet industry" and lay the groundwork for what would eventually become Alibaba. Later, Ma and his 17 coworkers launched Alibaba.com, a bulletin-board service that allowed Chinese businesses to showcase their goods to customers. He didn't initially put a lot of faith in his friends. He warned them that they would never advance to vice-president positions, just middle management jobs. Outside assistance would have to fill those jobs.

    Ma later described that choice as his biggest mistake. Later, when the outside help had long since disappeared, his cronies were still there to fill those vice-president positions. One of the main driving forces for Alibaba's success is its 17 co-founders. All the difference was made by the diversity of each founder, who came from a variety of fields, including journalism, investment banking, web development, and education, among many others.
    Photo:  CGTN
    Photo: CGTN
    Video: English Speeches
  6. Alibaba, the dominant Chinese online retailer with a $420 billion market worth, was founded and is currently led by Jack Ma. Ma's current net worth is $36.5 billion, claims Forbes.

    Ma, however, claims that neither his technical nor business talents contributed to his success. At the Viva Tech conference in Paris on Thursday, Ma declared, "I know nothing about technology, I know nothing about marketing, and I know nothing about (the legal) stuff". What does he know, then, that has enabled him to succeed? "I only understand humans. As a founder, everything we do is to please our customers. Bring your group. Make your group joyful. And you'll be content", Ma assured.

    In fact, after using the internet for the first time in 1995 on his first trip to the United States, Ma, who had originally intended to become a teacher, changed his mind and decided to launch a computer company. "Jack, this is the Internet", Jack's friend said. What is the Internet, Jack Ma enquired? "Search whatever you want", Charlie Rose said in 2015. "I initially didn't want to touch it because Chinese computers are so pricey. I can't pay if I damage it", Ma remarked. Ma then looked up "China" in his search engine. No information existed regarding China, claimed Ma.

    Jack Ma then suggested to his pal, "Why don't I make something about China?" "So we created a tiny, quite awful page named China ", Ma told Rose. It served as the impetus for founding Alibaba, which, according to Ma, began as an "e-marketplace for information" and then expanded.

    Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper
    Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper
    Photo:  khoahocdoisong.vn
    Photo: khoahocdoisong.vn
  7. Ma Yun, also known as Jack Ma, the millionaire founder and former chairman of the Chinese mega-site Alibaba, is married to Zhang Ying. After graduation in the 1980s, the pair married and have three kids together. They first met at the Hangzhou Teacher's Institute, now known as Hangzhou Normal University, where they both began their careers as teachers.


    Zhang added, "Ma Yun is not a pretty man, but I fell for him because he can do a lot of things handsome men cannot do", according to Bambooinovator. Despite the fact that Ma was recognized as one of Hangzhou's top ten young instructors, he made the decision to leave his position and launch his own translation business.


    Before he founded Alibaba, Ma founded China Yellowpages, which is thought to be one of China's first internet-based businesses, in the year 1995. With 16 other partners, Alibaba was the first business-to-business e-commerce website to be founded in China. Zhang also opted to leave her career and join her husband in running Alibaba as the "political commissar" of the business. However, Zhang admitted that she would spend the most of the day doing random errands and cooking meals for guests who attended her husband's meetings at various hours of the day.


    Her extensive clothes collection and pricey jewelry are part of her fortune. Ma is reportedly the 21st richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated at $58 billion. Additionally, Alibaba processes more items than both eBay and Amazon put together and is valued more than Facebook.


    According to rumors, Zhang values privacy and prefers to avoid the spotlight in her personal life. She is reportedly a kind-hearted woman who participates actively in social work and charitable activities. She has also made significant financial investments in the health and education sectors.

    Photo:  The New York Times
    Photo: The New York Times
    Photo:  Alizila
    Photo: Alizila




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