ChinaCo-founded it
Jack Ma
Jack Ma, a former English teacher, co-founded the Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba in 1999 and founded its payments affiliate Ant Group; his fortune comes from Alibaba and Ant shares, dividends and share sales.
- Forbes estimate
- $26.1B
- Forbes, 9 Oct 2026
- Forbes rank
- No. 91
- 9 Oct 2026
- Stake in Ant Group
- 9.9%
- Net worth, Bloomberg
- $42B
- Bloomberg, 10 Oct 2026
- Born
- 10 Sep 1964
- Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Education
- Bachelor's degree
- BA in English, Hangzhou Teachers College (1988)
- Giving Pledge
- Not a signer
Where the fortune sits
Alibaba and Ant Group shares, dividends and share sales
Alibaba Group
e-commerce and cloud computing, founded 1999
Bloomberg, from Alibaba's 13D filing of February 2022, the latest available; the SCMP reported he bought about $50 million more stock in late 2023, beyond the 4.3% reported at the end of 2021
Schedule 13D (February 2022), as read by Bloomberg, undefined Feb 2022
Partner in the Alibaba Partnership and partnership-committee continuity member
Ant Group
digital payments and financial services, founded 2004
6.2% of the votes
Bloomberg's figure from Ant's 2020 IPO prospectus; Alibaba's 20-F says his economic interest is to be cut over time to no more than 8.8%
Ant Group 2020 IPO prospectus, as read by Bloomberg, undefined undefined 2020
Founder; no management role
Other holdings
Yunfeng funds
Minority interest in the general partners of the Yunfeng investment funds, per Alibaba's 20-F
Where Jack stands among 73
Everyone on the site, grouped by their answer. Jack Ma is outlined.
How the fortune started
Founded it
Founded it 42
Inherited and grew it 12
Built it up 8
Inherited it 6
Through marriage 5
Industry
Technology
Technology 24
Finance 10
Several industries 9
Metals and mining 6
Retail 4
Fashion and beauty 4
Media 3
Food and drink 3
Shipping 3
Crypto 2
Oil, gas and chemicals 2
Healthcare 1
Casinos and resorts 1
Property and sports 1
Giving Pledge
Not a signer
Not a signer 61
Signed 11
Not stated 1
Education
Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree 27
Graduate degree 24
Left university without a degree 6
No university 5
Not stated 11
Role today
Founder, no executive role
Founder, no executive role 8
Runs the company 32
Chair, board or owner 25
No role 4
Retired 4
The person
- Born
- 10 Sep 1964Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Citizenship
- China
- Lives in
- Hangzhou, China
- Education
- Bachelor's degreeBA in English, Hangzhou Teachers College (1988)
- Parents
- His parents were traditional Chinese musician-storytellers in Hangzhou
What they give
- Giving Pledge
- Not a signer
- Foundation
- Jack Ma FoundationFounded 15 December 2014
- Lifetime giving
- $0.3BForbes, 2 Dec 2019. Forbes, citing Alibaba: the Jack Ma Foundation had 'distributed or pledged at least $300 million' since its founding; paid and pledged combined
Role and record
- Role now
- Founder, no executive rolePartner in the Alibaba Partnership
- Successor
- Daniel Zhang succeeded him as Alibaba chairman on 10 September 2019
- Public office
- Member, UK Prime Minister's Business Advisory Group, 2015
- Special Adviser for Youth Entrepreneurship and Small Business, UNCTAD, 2016
- Legal record
- None found
