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2018
Announcement of resignation as head of Alibaba
On September 10, 2018, Jack Ma, on his birthday, announced his resignation from the post of chairman of the board of directors and actual head of the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group. The businessman decided to focus on charity work and education. Read more here.
Jack Ma has become the richest man in China
On October 10, 2018, the business publication Hurun (the Chinese analogue of Forbes) published a list of the richest people in the PRC. The first place in it was again taken by Jack Ma.
The fortune of the founder of Alibaba at the time of publication of the rating was estimated at $39.1 billion, which is 35% or $10 billion more than a year earlier. This rise was facilitated by an increase in the market value of Ant Financial, in which the businessman owns a stake. Jack Ma is at the top of Hurun's list of the most affluent Chinese for the second time in the past four years.
The leading three included the chairman of the board of the development company Evergrande Xu Jiain ($36.2 billion) and the head of the Internet corporation Tencent Ma Huateng ($35 billion).
According to Hurun, in 2018, 1893 Chinese have a fortune exceeding 2 billion yuan (about $290 million), which is 11% less than a year earlier. The fortune of 1012 entrepreneurs decreased or remained unchanged, and 881 people were able to get rich.
It is also noted that the rating was replenished with 219 new persons. Among them are the 38-year-old head of the Internet giant Pinduoduo Colin Huang Zheng, as well as the heads of CATL (a manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries) and Bitmain (a manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining equipment). Moreover, Ge Yuesheng, who is at the helm of Bitmain, entered the rating at the age of only 26 years with a fortune of $490 million. The average age of the participants in the ranking of the richest businessmen in China is 55 years.
Of the almost 2 thousand billionaires, 19 are not natives of mainland China: among them are representatives of Great Britain, Vietnam, Denmark, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, the USA, Sweden and South Africa. Most of the participants in the rating live in mainland China - 618 people, in second place in this indicator Hong Kong and Taiwan with 74 and 42 billionaires, respectively.[1]
Joining the Communist Party of China
November 27, 2018 it became known about the entry of Jack Ma into the Communist Party of China. This was reported by her official newspaper, Renmin Zhibao.
The publication published a list of 100 people who made an "outstanding contribution to China's policy of reform and openness." Jack Ma is noted there as someone whose Alibaba Group "created the world's largest e-commerce platform with an annual transaction volume of trillions of yuan."
It is noted that Alibaba is one of the ten most expensive companies in the world, which makes China "the leading player in the international market in the field of e-commerce, Internet finance and cloud services."
Jack Ma himself is called by the newspaper "an outstanding builder of the cause of socialism" and a powerful driver for the development of domestic demand. It is not known when the billionaire, whose fortune by the end of November 2018 is estimated at $35.8 billion, joined the ruling party.
As explained to Reuters in Alibaba, participation in any political party does not affect business decision-making in the company.
 | We follow all laws and rules in the countries where we work. We are also fulfilling our mission, which is to help people develop their business anywhere in the digital age, the company said. |  |
The list, which made an outstanding contribution to the policy of reform and openness - the program of economic reforms of the Communist Party, also included businessmen Pony Ma from Tencent Holdings and Robin Lee from Baidu. Whether they are part of the party is not specified. Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent form the so-called BAT trio, being China's largest tech companies by 2018.
Jack Ma refrained from commenting on joining the Chinese Communist Party. The political affiliation of the businessman turned out to be a surprise to many, Reuters notes.[2]
2019
Jack Ma: People should work 12 hours a week
At the end of August 2019, Jack Ma, speaking at the world conference on artificial intelligence in Shanghai together with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, said that people should work only 12 hours a week.
According to the co-founder of Alibaba, it will be possible to work four hours three days a week thanks to technological development and reform of the educational system.
Jack Ma believes that without changes to the education system, humanity will face problems. The current system is outdated because it was created in the industrial era, and in the future the day will come when cars will surpass people. The businessman believes that educational reform should help people become more creative.
An example of how new technologies give a person more free time, Jack Ma called electricity. According to him, thanks to electricity, people have time to go to karaoke or disco in the evening, and artificial intelligence will give people more time to enjoy being people.
He also said that he was not worried about possible job cuts - according to Jack Ma, artificial intelligence will help people, and not deprive them of their earnings.[3]
| | I'm not worried about work. Computers have chips and people have hearts. Heart is the source of wisdom, "he stressed. | |
In April 2019, Jack Ma called overtime a "huge blessing" for young people, and expressed confidence that only with such a schedule can you succeed and live a good life.
Ma suggested Alibaba employees have sex as regularly and conscientiously as work - six times every six days. In addition, according to the entrepreneur, couples should raise marriage KPIs and have children.
Richest Chinese status after leaving Alibaba
In early November 2019, Forbes magazine compiled a list of the richest people in China and again ranked Jack Ma first. In March, analysts called the founder of Tencent Ma Huaten the main rich of the Celestial Empire, but Jack Ma regained his leadership.
Shortly before the publication of the new rating, he left the post of head of Alibaba to focus on charity. However, Ma's wealth increased from $34.6 billion to $38.2 billion, as Alibaba's profits rose sharply in 2018 as a result of the e-commerce boom in China.
Tensions to trade between China USA and over the past year have risen significantly, and growth GDP in the world's second-largest economy has slowed to a pace that has not reached nearly three decades. Even so, some of the wealthiest people in China continue to thrive thanks to rising consumption and consumer spending.
The fortune of more than half of the 400 participants in the 2019 Forbes Chinese Richest List has only grown, with a quarter remaining at the same level. The total well-being of these people increased by more than one fifth compared to 2018, from $1.06 trillion to $1.29 trillion. The minimum capital on the list was $1 billion, as in 2017. This figure decreased in 2018 to $840 million. In 2019, sixty new names were included in the list.
Forbes China editor-in-chief Russell Flannery noted that even if China's economic growth has slowed, experienced entrepreneurs are finding new ways to make a profit. At the top of the list for the second year in a row is Jack Ma, followed by Ma Huateng - his capital is $36 billion.
The third on the list was Evergrande group chairman Hui Ka Yan, whose fortune is estimated at $27.7 billion. But the drop in car sales in China caused serious damage to Li Shufu, the chairman of the Geely Group and the main owner of Volvo, which ranks 12th - its capital fell from $14.2 billion to $12.9 billion.[4]
Hurun's top ranking of China's richest people
On October 20, 2020, the Chinese magazine Hurun published a rating of the richest citizens of the PRC. U.S. sanctions on Chinese telecom giant Huawei have undermined the personal fortune of the company's founder, Ren Zhengfei, even as efforts to develop 5G positively affect the fortunes of other billionaires in China. Read more here.
2022: Moving to Tokyo
Alibaba founder Jack Ma has left China and has been living in Tokyo for almost six months. FT sources told about this in November 2022. Two years ago, he criticized China's financial system and disappeared from the information field for a long time.
2023
Loss of control over China's largest fintech company Ant Group
On January 7, 2023, Chinese fintech giant Ant Group announced changes in its management structure. Billionaire Jack Ma lost control of this company. Read more here.
Return to China after year of absence
Jack Ma, the billionaire co-founder of Alibaba, returned to China after spending about a year abroad, sources said on March 27, 2023.
Notes
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