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Jack Ma Yun[lower-alpha 1] (Chinese: 马云; pinyin: Mǎ Yún; born 10 September 1964) is a Chinese billionaire business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. In addition, Ma is also the co-founder of Yunfeng Capital, a Chinese private equity firm. , with a net worth of $33.3 billion, Ma is the fifth-wealthiest person in China (after Zhong Shanshan, Zhang Yiming, Ma Huateng and Robin Zeng), as well as the 34th wealthiest person in the world, ranked by Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Ma in 2018

Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Ma earned a Bachelor of Art's degree with a major in English upon graduating from Hangzhou Normal University in 1988. He became an English lecturer and international trade lecturer at Hangzhou Dianzi University following graduation. Later taking an interest in the emergence of the internet business, he established his first business in 1994, only to end up forming a second company after learning more about the internet and the commercial business possibilities that could be potentially exploited from its emerging growth. From 1998 to 1999, he led an information technology company founded by the Chinese government, later leaving it to start the Alibaba Group with his colleagues in 1999. The company was initially founded as B2B e-commerce marketplace website, yet the company later expanded into a wide range of industry domains across the Chinese economy, including e-commerce, high-technology, and online payment solutions.