Founder of Alibaba Jack Ma Emerges as China’s Richest Man

Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

The 49-year-old founder and chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has a net worth of $21.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His assets include a 7.3 percent economic interest in China’s largest e-commerce business, which is preparing for what could be the largest initial public offering in U.S. history, and almost half of the parent of Alipay, a separate online-payment service that previously hadn’t been included in his net worth calculation.

Ma is $5.5 billion richer than Ma Huateng, the founder of Tencent Holdings Ltd., China’s largest Internet company by market value. Robin Li, the founder of search engine Baidu Inc., ranks No. 3 in the world’s second-largest economy.

The wealth creation in China has been quite rapid, particularly among entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma that have created businesses that benefit from China’s burgeoning middle class,” said Tony Hsu, a Shanghai-based portfolio manager at Dalton Investments.

Alibaba, which plans to sell shares on the New York Stock Exchange next month, may set its IPO value at $154 billion, according to the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg in July. Ma owns 8.8 percent of the company. After subtracting the 1.5 percent controlled by SymAsia Foundation Ltd., his charitable organization, Ma’s interest in the company is valued at $11.3 billion. 

The same analysts said Alibaba’s post-listing valuation could be as much as $200 billion.

Bloomberg