CNN Editorial Investigation

(CNN) — Here’s a look into the life of Jack Ma, co-founder of China’s most successful tech empire and billionaire entrepreneur.

Personal

Date of birth: September 10, 1964

Place of birth: Hangzhou, China

Birth name: My Yun

Father: My Laifa

Mother: How to wencai

Wedding: Zhang Ying (Cathy Zhang)

Children: Two (some sources say three)

Education: Hangzhou Teachers College, 1988; Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, MBA

Education and life

As a child, Ma showed foreign tourists around his hometown to improve his English.

He was admitted to Hangzhou Teachers College on his third attempt after failing the entrance examination twice.

Owner of a vineyard in France.

Supports the Chinese work practice known as “996.” The number refers to working from 9:00 to 21:00, six days a week.

Is a member of the Communist Party.

Alibaba, Career and Retirement

1988 – Starts teaching English at Hangzhou Teachers College.

1994 – Ma founded his first company: the translation agency Haibo.

1995 – Ma founded China Pages, an Internet directory for Chinese businesses.

1999 – Together with 18 others, he founded the e-commerce company Alibaba Group from an apartment in Hangzhou.

2003 – Establishes Taobao, an online retail website.

2004 – Establishes Alipay, an internet payment platform.

2010 – Co-founder of venture capital firm Yunfeng.

2011 – Alibaba is undergoing an internal investigation into fraud claims. The investigation reveals that approximately 100 Alibaba sellers allowed fraudulent entities to be designated as “gold suppliers,” a title reserved for independently verified legitimate sellers. In response to the accusation, CEO David Wei and COO Elvis Lee are stepping down.

January 15, 2013 – Ma announces he will step down as CEO of Alibaba but remain as the company’s executive chairman.

September 19, 2014 – Alibaba raises $25 billion in record-breaking IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

October 2014 – Establishes Ant Group, a financial technology company.

December 15, 2014 – Establishes the Jack Ma Foundation, a philanthropic organization.

2017 – Co-founder of a private school, the Yungu School, in Hangzhou.

January 9, 2017 – Ma meets US President Donald Trump to discuss plans to create “one million” jobs in the United States through Alibaba Group’s e-commerce platform.

November 11, 2017 – Makes his film debut in “Gong Shou Dao,” a kung fu film.

September 2019 – Announces he will step down as executive chairman of Alibaba. He will be succeeded by CEO Yong Zhang, also known as Daniel Zhang.

October 24, 2020 – Ma delivers a controversial speech in China calling for reform of the country’s financial regulatory system.

November 3, 2020 – A planned IPO of Ant Group, the financial subsidiary of Alibaba, has been blocked at the last minute by Chinese regulators.

December 24, 2020 – China launches antitrust investigation into Alibaba. The State Administration for Market Regulation, China’s top market regulator, announces that it will investigate alleged monopolistic behavior by Alibaba.

January 20, 2021 – Ma is making his first public appearance in about three months during a speech at the online ceremony for the Rural Teacher Initiative event. Ma had not made a public appearance or posted on social media since late October, a little over a week before a long-awaited listing of Alibaba’s (BABA) financial subsidiary, Ant Group, was suspended.

May 24, 2021 – The Financial Times, citing anonymous sources, reports that Ma will no longer be president of Hupan, the elite business school he founded in 2015. The paper also reports that Hupan would restructure its curriculum. The Hangzhou-based school had already dropped the word “university” from its name following a government crackdown on institutions that do not have university licenses but claim that status.

December 31, 2022 – Ma appears in a live video address in an annual speech to rural teachers, the South China Morning Post reports. It is a rare public appearance after reports that Ma was living in Tokyo following China’s crackdown on the tech sector.

January 7, 2023 – Ma will no longer control Ant Group after the fintech giant’s shareholders agreed to a review of its shareholding structure, according to a statement from the company.

april 2024 – Sends a memo to the company’s employees expressing support for Alibaba’s restructuring efforts.

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