Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma to retire: report

E-Paper | April 30, 2026

The New York Times is reporting that Jack Ma, the co-founder and executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group, is retiring.

The Times said that in an interview, Ma said he planned to step down as executive chairman on Monday to pursue philanthropy in education. He will remain on Alibaba's board of directors.

Ma started Alibaba in 1999 in his apartment in the Chinese city of Hangzhou and is now among the richest people in the world.

The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 and has a market value of about $421 billion. It's the world's biggest e-commerce company by total value of the merchandise sold across its platforms, which include Taobao and TMall.

Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad

Sep 08, 2018 02:36pm

Good for him to retire so early in life. Not many people can follow his foot-steps and retire early due to financial constraints and family commitments in today's world of capitalism that we all are inadvertently forced to live, work and make an honorable living in.

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SMI

Sep 08, 2018 03:39pm

Excellent man !

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Alba

Sep 08, 2018 04:27pm

Jack Ma started Alibaba at his kitchen table. He is not a techie. He is a business man, a good salesman and a great showman. He was there on the ground floor when everyone in China wanted a website. He filled the need of a billion people and the internet took off in China. The American billionaire Ross Perot who started his own business said, " I ain't that smart, but the people I hire are." He was IBM's best salesman in the early days. The secret of their success was getting people to believe in them and share the dream. There is an old proverb in business. "Nothing happens until someone sells something."

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ahamed

Sep 08, 2018 06:40pm

A success story, Jack Ma will do good for humanity and earn the goodwill of millions. What a great use of money! Hope many billionaires will come out and make this a better world that is peaceful and tolerant. Thank you, Jack.

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asif kidwai

Sep 08, 2018 07:11pm

@Alba : Secret is in the hard work and rest falls into place automatically. One must believe in himself or herself and convinced before convincing others. It is the true passion that drives true legends bottom line, there is no magic bullet to it.

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Ahsan Gul

Sep 08, 2018 09:00pm

@Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad - yes I totally agree with you DR. But some people have passion and vision that put them apart from the others.

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Asif A. Shah

Sep 08, 2018 11:01pm

Jack Ma used to be an English teacher. He knows how to get his money's worth in philanthropy for education as well.Great move! He will be a positive force on the world stage.

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Alba

Sep 09, 2018 09:18am

Jack Ma never gave up. He had to take the yearly national exam for university studies in China four times before he passed. He majored in English at teacher's college.

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