New Biography By Duncan Clark For Alibaba

Duncan Clark wrote biography about Jack Ma and how he built a online retail empire known as Alibaba

Alibaba Group Holding has become the online retailing giant and the largest retailer in the e-commerce industry. The Internet and PC revolution experienced by the world during the late 20th century took the world by a storm. However, the key players in this era were distinctly American such as Microsoft, eBay, Amazon, Apple and Google. Considering the paradigms of the 21st century, it is not possible to think about an Internet revolution that has its roots in China. China has now become the center of everything in the world.

Alibaba Group is a growing Chinese digital marketplace and in recent times, it has become bigger and larger than the US retailer ‘Amazon’. Its e-commerce business is one thing but the newly formed Alipay owned and operated by Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Financial is accountable for one third of the $2.5 trillion global online payments market. Overall, it has become an integral part of China’s ascension as an economic power globally.

In order to make something of yourself, you have to work for it. This is exactly what the founder and chairman of the company Jack Ma did all his life. He is not a CEO from the nerdy groups who have amazing programming skills or are extra genius. Jack Ma was not like them and worked hard to build a company as big as Alibaba. He grew up in a mediocre family started a tiny translation business that was focused on Chinese companies so that he makes a name and living. Ma did well under Deng Xiaoping and learnt how to do business with the West. He then visited the United States in 90s where he got to know about the technological progress hence decided that listing the Chinese companies online would be beneficial.

During that time, the internet just came in hence it was hard for the web pioneers in the US to persuade investors as well as consumers to get started with e-commerce businesses. And Ma wanted to do the same and faced numerous challenges for his startup. China was not advanced then and majority parts did not have internet. Still he managed to get a few investors on board to create web services. The Chinese government also then decided to bring in the internet technology in 90s and this was when the Chinese businesses gained attention of foreign investors. Ma’s previous business known as China Pages received a good investment from a Japanese Billionaire named Masayosha Son. That money became the founding pillar of what we know today as Alibaba.

Since then, Jack Ma and his company have not stopped to grow and prosper. It went public two years ago and raised a massive $25 billion in what it is said to be the largest Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the history. Alibaba is a house that Jack Ma has built. It currently dominates the domestic market and it is exploring opportunities to expand in the international markets.