Jack Ma, whose Chinese name is Ma Yun, became the richest man in China, when the company he founded was floated on the stock market last year with a value of around £140 billion. Here are some interesting stories about him.
1 "Beer" was the first word that Jack Ma searched for on the Internet. In 1995 Ma made his first trip to the US and used the Internet for the first time. After searching for "beer" and then "China", he saw that no results came up relating to China. He decided to set up a Chinese website - the seeds of Alibaba had been planted.
2 Jack Ma applied to study at Harvard University 10 times and was rejected (拒绝) each time. Ma failed the entrance exam to college in China three times and was also rejected by many jobs, including one at KFC. He was also turned down by Harvard University 10 times after applying.
3 Jack Ma learnt English by guiding tourists free every day for nine years. Limited resources meant it was difficult to learn English when Ma was young. However, he found that he could learn the language by guiding tourists free around his hometown, Hangzhou, which he did during his teenage years every morning for nine years. He found everything they said and did was so different from what he had been taught at school and by his parents, which opened his mind.
4 Jack Ma named his company Alibaba because it's a globally known story. Ma simply wanted his company to have a global and interesting name and realised that Alibaba is a story known across the world and it begins with A, appearing at the top of lists. The company was founded in 1999 and since then has grown from 15 employees to more than 30,000. Ma hopes to keep expanding Alibaba outside of China.
