Eniola Olorundare
Acting billionaire? Not in terms of feigning or deputising.
It is about returning to the screen as an actor after conquering the global business world.
He is the Chinese Billionaire, Jack Ma, who has also promised investing over $15.5 billion to support growth and development.
He also said he was investing in 10 projects to boost employment opportunities.
Said his CEO, Daniel Zhang, “We firmly believe that if society is doing well and the economy is doing well, then Alibaba will do well.”
China is still hungry for this development.
It is of no doubt that the philanthropist has grown from leap to leap as he rose from an online store run from his apartment, to one of the world’s largest tech giants.
Today, it has reached nearly 800 million users with services including online shopping, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
His latest venture, Ant Group, commands the digital payment market in China through its Alipay mobile finance app.
His Shares fell sometimes ago, wiping nearly $76bn (£54bn) off its value, this incident made Jack Ma nowhere to be found.
Some comments about his disappearance can never be forgotten as some called him “The hiding billionaire,” others said, “Lost but found.”
Jack is said to be worth $39.9 billion in real time rating.
His company, Alibaba Group, is the holding company with nine major subsidiaries: Alibaba.com, Taobao Marketplace, Tmall, eTao, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, AliExpress.com, and Alipay,
In September 2019, Jack Ma stepped down as Alibaba’s executive chairman and was succeeded by CEO Yong Zhang, also known as Daniel Zhang.
He is often termed a multidimensional investor as he even has investment in Chinese media and entertainment company, Huayi Brothers.
He co-founded Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm. Ma is a strong proponent of an open and market-driven economy.
He has a lot of awards and recognitions to his credit.
In 2017, Ma was ranked second in the annual “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” list by Fortune.
Ma is the third-wealthiest person in China (after Zhong Shanshan and Ma Huateng), as well as one of the wealthiest people in the world, ranked 26th by Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Born on the 10 September, 1964 (age 57) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, he is happily married to
Zhang Ying with three children.
In 2017, Ma made his acting debut with his first kung fu short film Gong Shou Dao. It was filmed in collaboration with the Double 11 Shopping Carnival Singles’ Day.
Ma is a follower of both Buddhism and Taoism.
His recognitions and awards are this: “Top 10 Economic Personalities of the Year” by China Central Television (CCTV), in September 2005, the World Economic Forum selected Ma as a “Young Global Leader.”
Also, Fortune also selected him as one of the “25 Most Powerful Businesspeople in Asia” in 2005, Businessweek also selected him as a “Businessperson of the Year” in 2007, in 2008, Barron’s featured him as one of the 30 “World’s Best CEOs.
Forbes China, also selected him as one of the Top 10 Most Respected Entrepreneurs in China in 2009, Ma also received the 2009 CCTV Economic Person of the Year: Business Leaders of the Decade Award.
He was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in November 2013 and in 2014, he was ranked as the 30th-most-powerful person in the world in an annual ranking published by Forbes.
In 2015, Asian Award honoured him with the Entrepreneur of the Year award, in 2017, Fortune ranked Ma second on its World’s 50 Greatest Leaders list.
In 2017, a KPMG survey ranked Ma third in global tech innovation visionary survey and was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Science in Technopreneurship from De La Salle University Manila, Philippines (October 2017).
In May 2018, Ma received an honorary doctorate from professors Yaakov Frenkel and Yaron Oz at the Tel Aviv University.
