BIDDING ADIEU | Alibaba co-founder and chairman Jack Ma plans to retire from the Chinese e-commerce giant on September 10, his birthday, to devote his time to philanthropy focused on education. In an interview to The New York Times, Ma referred to his departure as "the beginning of an era" rather than an end. (Image: Reuters)
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WHAT NEXT? | Ma, who gave up the title of CEO in 2013, said he now planned to devote his time and fortune to education. "I think some day, and soon, I'll go back to teaching," he said, adding he had been preparing philanthropy plans at his eponymous foundation "for 10 years". (Image: Reuters)
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CHINA’S BILLIONAIRES | Ma is part of a generation of billionaire entrepreneurs who made their fortunes as China embraced the digital age. 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. (Image: Reuters)
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HUMBLE BEGINNINGS | 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. Born into a poor family in Hangzhou, Ma gave up teaching 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. Alibaba is now valued at over $400 billion. (Image: Reuters)
THE LEGACY | Ma morphed Alibaba in to China's largest online retail market. He 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. As he prepares to leave the company, Ma is among China's richest men with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $38.6 billion. (Image: Reuters)
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INSPIRATION | Ma recently said 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. Ma has inspired strong devotion among his employees and users, drawing comparisons with late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. (Image: Reuters)
![BIDDING ADIEU | Alibaba co-founder and chairman Jack Ma plans to retire from the Chinese e-commerce giant on September 10, his birthday, to devote his time to philanthropy focused on education. In an interview to The New York Times, Ma referred to his departure as "the beginning of an era" rather than an end. (Image: Reuters)](https://images.moneycontrol.com/static-mcnews/2018/09/1-Jack-Ma.jpg "BIDDING ADIEU | Alibaba co-founder and chairman Jack Ma plans to retire from the Chinese e-commerce giant on September 10, his birthday, to devote his time to philanthropy focused on education. In an interview to The New York Times, Ma referred to his departure as "the beginning of an era" rather than an end. (Image: Reuters)")
![WHAT NEXT? | Ma, who gave up the title of CEO in 2013, said he now planned to devote his time and fortune to education. "I think some day, and soon, I'll go back to teaching," he said, adding he had been preparing philanthropy plans at his eponymous foundation "for 10 years". (Image: Reuters)](https://images.moneycontrol.com/static-mcnews/2018/09/2-jack-ma-teacher.jpg "WHAT NEXT? | Ma, who gave up the title of CEO in 2013, said he now planned to devote his time and fortune to education. "I think some day, and soon, I'll go back to teaching," he said, adding he had been preparing philanthropy plans at his eponymous foundation "for 10 years". (Image: Reuters)")
![INSPIRATION | Ma recently said 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. Ma has inspired strong devotion among his employees and users, drawing comparisons with late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. THE LEGACY | Ma morphed Alibaba in to China's largest online retail market. He 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. As he prepares to leave the company, Ma is among China's richest men with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $38.6 billion. (Image: Reuters)](https://images.moneycontrol.com/static-mcnews/2018/09/6-bill-gates-mellinda-gates.jpg "INSPIRATION | Ma recently said 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. Ma has inspired strong devotion among his employees and users, drawing comparisons with late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. THE LEGACY | Ma morphed Alibaba in to China's largest online retail market. He 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. As he prepares to leave the company, Ma is among China's richest men with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $38.6 billion. (Image: Reuters)")
