Business

Jack Ma

A former English teacher rejected from dozens of jobs; founded Alibaba in his apartment at 34.

Born: 1964 · Hangzhou, China
Roots: Chinese
Family: Working class; Parents were traditional musician-storytellers (pingtan performers); modest household during the Cultural Revolution.
Education: Hangzhou Normal University (English) — after failing the entrance exam twice
Started with: $60K pooled; Raised from 18 co-founders in his Hangzhou apartment in 1999.
Affiliations & societies: Chinese Communist PartyDocumented; His party membership was disclosed by the People's Daily in 2018.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1976 · age 12
English at the hotel gates
Bikes to a Hangzhou hotel for years, guiding foreign tourists for free to practice English.
1984 · age 19
Third try at university
Enters Hangzhou Normal after failing the gaokao twice; by his account, rejected from ~30 jobs, including KFC.
1988 · age 24
English teacher
Earns roughly $12–15 a month.
1995 · age 30
Sees the internet in Seattle
Founds China Pages, a web-directory venture; it fails.
1999 · age 34
Founds Alibaba$60K
In his apartment, with 17 co-founders.
2000 · age 35
SoftBank invests$20M
Masayoshi Son commits after a short first meeting.
2014 · age 50
Alibaba IPO$25B IPO
The largest initial public offering in history at the time.
2020 · age 56
Ant Group IPO halted
Regulators stop the listing after his speech criticizing Chinese financial regulation; he withdraws from public view.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.