Jeremy Ethier
$4 million
Wikimedia Commons, via Wikipedia: Jack Ma
Jack Ma’s net worth is estimated at $34 billion, making the co-founder of Alibaba Group one of the wealthiest individuals in China and among the most recognized entrepreneurs in global technology history. Born Ma Yun in Hangzhou, China, Ma rose from an English teacher earning $12 a month to building one of the world’s largest e-commerce and technology conglomerates. His wealth is derived from stakes in Alibaba Group, Ant Group, and venture capital firm Yunfeng Capital.
Updated March 2026: According to the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires List published on March 10, 2026, Jack Ma’s net worth stands at approximately $29.1 billion, ranking him #83 globally and among China’s ten richest individuals. His wealth is primarily anchored in Alibaba Group’s market performance and his continuing stake in Ant Group.
Ma Yun was born on September 10, 1964, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, to parents who were traditional ping-tan performers. Growing up in modest circumstances, Ma developed an early fascination with English by cycling 27 kilometers daily to the Hangzhou International Hotel to practice conversation with foreign tourists — a habit he maintained for nine years. A foreign tourist nicknamed him “Jack” because his Chinese name was difficult to pronounce.
Ma struggled academically for years. He failed the Chinese college entrance examination (gaokao) twice and scored only 1 point in mathematics on his first attempt. On his third attempt in 1984, he passed and was admitted to Hangzhou Normal University — then known as Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute — due to an enrollment shortfall in the English department. He graduated in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in English, ranking among the top five students in his foreign language department. He reportedly applied to Harvard Business School ten consecutive times and was rejected each time. After graduation, he applied for 31 jobs and was rejected from all of them, including a position at KFC where he was the only one of 24 applicants not hired.
He subsequently taught English and international trade at Hangzhou Dianzi University for approximately six years, earning roughly $12 per month.
Ma’s entrepreneurial journey began in 1994 when he founded Hangzhou Hope Translation Agency (later Hangzhou Haibo Translation Agency). In early 1995, while on a trade delegation to the United States, he encountered the internet for the first time. Recognizing its potential, he returned to China and co-founded China Pages in April 1995, one of China’s earliest internet businesses — an online directory for Chinese companies seeking international customers. The company generated approximately 5 million RMB in profit over three years before being acquired by China Telecommunications Corporation in 1996. Frustrated with the arrangement, Ma left in 1997 to build websites for China’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.
In 1999, Ma returned to Hangzhou and, with 18 friends and 500,000 yuan raised among them, co-founded Alibaba Group as a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce marketplace. In October 1999 and January 2000, Alibaba secured $25 million in venture capital from Goldman Sachs and SoftBank. The company expanded rapidly, launching Taobao Marketplace in 2003 (which defeated eBay in the Chinese market), Alipay in 2004, and Tmall in 2008. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang invested $1 billion in Alibaba in 2005. Ma served as CEO until 2013 and as executive chairman until September 2019, stepping down on his 55th birthday.
In September 2014, Alibaba completed the largest IPO in U.S. history at the time, raising $25 billion on the New York Stock Exchange. Ma co-founded venture capital firm Yunfeng Capital in 2010. He also gave up control of Ant Group in 2023, and the company — which processes trillions of yuan in payments annually through Alipay — has seen its valuation recover following a regulatory freeze that halted a planned $280 billion IPO in 2020. According to Bloomberg, Ant Group’s quarterly profit grew 10% in late 2025 after expanding into AI models, humanoid robots, and healthcare. In December 2024, Ma spoke at Ant’s 20th anniversary celebrations, stating that the AI era over the next 20 years would “exceed everyone’s imagination.”
In February 2026, Xi Jinping met with private entrepreneurs including Ma, signaling improved sentiment between the Chinese government and the technology sector.
Jack Ma married Zhang Ying, a university classmate from Hangzhou Normal University, in 1988 — the same year he graduated. They have two children: Ma Yuankun (son) and Ma Yuanbao (daughter). The family has maintained a notably private profile. Following regulatory pressure beginning in 2020, Ma spent extended periods living abroad — including time in Japan, Europe, and Australia — before publicly re-emerging in China in early 2023. He was photographed visiting Alibaba and Ant Group campuses in Hangzhou through 2024 and 2025. Ma is the founder of the Jack Ma Foundation, established in 2014 to support education and environmental causes globally.
According to the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires List published on March 10, 2026, Jack Ma’s net worth is approximately $29.1 billion. Earlier estimates from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index placed his figure around $34 billion. The variation reflects fluctuations in Alibaba’s stock price and the valuation of his Ant Group stake.
Ma’s wealth is almost entirely derived from co-founding Alibaba Group in 1999 with 18 friends and 500,000 yuan. Alibaba grew from a B2B e-commerce platform into a multinational technology conglomerate encompassing Taobao, Tmall, Alibaba Cloud, and logistics. The 2014 NYSE IPO — the largest in U.S. history at the time — crystallized his billionaire status. Additional wealth comes from his stake in Ant Group (the fintech arm behind Alipay) and Yunfeng Capital, the VC firm he co-founded in 2010.
Ma stepped down as Alibaba’s executive chairman in September 2019 and gave up formal control of Ant Group in 2023. However, he has remained publicly visible and supportive of both companies. He appeared at Ant’s 20th anniversary in December 2024, toured Ant Group’s Hangzhou campus in November 2025, and was among the private-sector entrepreneurs who met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in February 2026.
As of March 2026, Jack Ma is 61 years old. Jack Ma was born on September 10, 1964 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Jack Ma stands 4′ 11¾” tall (152 cm).
Jack Ma has been married to Zhang Ying, also known as Cathy Zhang, since 1988. The couple met while studying at Hangzhou Teachers Institute. They have two children together, a son and a daughter.
Yes, Jack Ma has two children with his wife Zhang Ying. His son, Ma Yuanqing (also known as Jay Ma), is in his early 30s. His daughter’s name has been kept private by the family.
Jack Ma resides in Hangzhou, China, the city where he was born and where he founded Alibaba Group. He has maintained a lower public profile in recent years.
$29.1 billion net worth (Forbes 2026 Billionaires)