Jack Ma Net Worth 2024: 10 Life-Altering Lessons From Alibaba Founder

How Much is Jack Ma Net Worth?

In 2024, Jack Ma’s net worth is estimated at $24 billion, which is quite impressive. Over the last two years, his net worth has dropped significantly, going from $48 billion to $24 billion. Jack Ma earns his money primarily from co-founding and leading Alibaba and Ant Group. He makes money through his salaries, stock holdings, investments, and speaking engagements.

Jack Ma Net WorthYear
$24 Billion2024
$23.5 Billion2023
$48.4 Billion2022
$38.8 Billion2021
$37.3 Billion2020
$39 Billion2019

Jack Ma’s net worth is over $24 billion, most of which has come from the Alibaba Group which is China’s biggest eCommerce company.  

 In 1988, Jack Ma started his career as an English lecturer at Hangzhou Dianzi University.

Jack Ma’s Alibaba group holds NINE major subsidiaries including Alibaba, Taobao Marketplace, Tmall, eTao, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, AliExpress.com, and Alipay.

On 28 June 1999, Jack Ma along with his 17 friends founded Alibaba.com.

According to Statista, Alibaba eCommerce company has over 863 million annual ACTIVE consumers. 

alibaba customers

So how did Jack Ma go from a school teacher to creating a billion-dollar eCommerce giant? Let’s find out without further ado.

Who is Jack Ma?

Jack Ma, who’s also known as Ma Yun, is a Chinese businessman, a politician, and an investor.

Jack Ma is a Chinese business magnate and the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group. Ma founded the BIGGEST Chinese multinational technology company “Alibaba Group” in 1999.  

jack ma alibaba

Alibaba Group is named the 31st-largest public company in the world on the “Forbes Global 2000” list. It has over $185 billion in total assets which makes it one of the largest eCommerce companies in the world.

You can also read Gary Vee’s net worth post where you can learn some of the genius lessons from the Internet marketing legend. 

Jack Ma Biography:

  • Jack Ma’s Age: 57 years old
  • Birth Date: 10 September 1964
  • Birth Place: Hangzhou, China
  • Nationality: Chinese
  • Status: Married

Jack Ma in Numbers:

  • Over 660K people follow Jack Ma on Twitter, here’s the Twitter handle of Ma
  • Jack Ma founded Alibaba Group which has total assets of over $257 billion
  • Ma is also the founder of Alipay which is a popular digital payment platform that serves over 1.3 billion users globally 

So… are you curious to find out what helped Jack Ma to become the most successful entrepreneur cum billionaire founder? Want to know how Jack Ma net worth went from $0 to over $24 billion? Let’s find out!

Jack Ma Net Worth: 10 Inspiring Lessons from the Billionaire 

Jack Ma Net Worth

Lesson 1: Embrace Failure And Use It to Succeed

One of the biggest lessons to learn from Jack Ma’s success is this: get used to failure. Use failures in your life and business as stepping stones. His ability to embrace rejections is the primary reason Jack Ma net worth went over $24 billion.

Jack Ma has struggled A LOT earlier in his career. 

After college, Jack Ma applied for 30 jobs in his home city of Hangzhou, China. He was rejected by everyone.

Ma was even turned down by Harvard 10 times.

There was a time when Ma interviewed to work in KFC and got rejected there too whereas 23 out of the 24 people got in, and he was the only unlucky one.

In a public lecture at the University of Nairobi, Jack Ma says “If you can not get used to failure — just like a boxer — if you can’t get used to [being] hit, how can you win?” 

jack ma speech

In his lecture, Ma also says “no matter how smart you are, you will make the mistakes over and over again. Learning failure stories teaches you how to survive when you make mistakes.”

So what can we learn from it?

Get used to rejection. It makes you mentally stronger. Once you become mentally stronger, nothing is going to stop you from achieving your goals. 

Don’t fear from failure. Failure is a necessary stepping stone to building our dreams.

Key takeaway: Failure is NOT a mistake. It’s a teacher. Learn from your failures. Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.

Lesson 2: Don’t Wait for the Right Time. Act Fast!

Most people spend A LOT of time thinking and planning. Jack Ma believes in acting fast.

In 1999, Jack Ma along with his 17 friends founded Alibaba.com in his Hangzhou apartment. 

Now, Alibaba is China’s biggest eCommerce company, as 80% of online retail sales in China go through Alibaba. 

Jack started something that few others did, and he successfully launched a MEGA business with limited money and outside help. More importantly, he acted fast. He didn’t wait for the PERFECT time as he started Alibaba when he was just 35 years old.

Whether you want to start a blog or digital marketing agency, act fast. Do it TODAY, not tomorrow!

Key takeaway: Always look for opportunities in your field. The moment you get an opportunity, take it and work on it before anyone else. Don’t waste time planning or thinking. Sometimes, all you need to do is to take action quickly. Then, plan things accordingly.

Lesson 3: Think Globally, Act Locally

Jack Ma was introduced to the Internet when he went on a trip to the US in 1995. 

On his return from the US trip, Ma founded “China Pages”, which created websites for Chinese businesses. 

jack ma china pages

His first online venture China Pages was also one of China’s first Internet companies. In the same year (i.e 1995), Ma registered the domain chinapages.com in the United States. 

Guess what? Within three years, the company generated more than $800,000. Quite a big amount back then, right? 

After the success of his online company ‘China Pages’, Ma started digging deeper into the world wide web where he started building websites for various Chinese companies. Later in 1999, he used all that knowledge to launch the Alibaba group. 

Key takeaway: One of the major reasons for Alibaba’s success is that its founder Jack Ma always thinks globally and acts locally. He always considers what his target audience wants and delivers it in a better (and affordable) way.

Lesson 4: Set a Vision for Your Life

Most people are afraid of starting a business. They are afraid of the failure rate as most businesses fail.

But here’s the thing: if you set a vision for your life, starting a business is probably the best way to make a fortune and help others.

Jack Ma, the wealthiest man in China once said;

“If you put Bananas and Money in front of Monkeys, monkeys will choose Bananas because monkeys do not know that money can buy a lot of Bananas. In REALITY, if you offer JOB and BUSINESS to people, they would choose JOB because most people do not know that BUSINESS can bring more MONEY than wages. Profit is better than wages, for wages can make you a living but profits can bring you a fortune.”

jack ma bananas quote

What can you learn from it?

Focus on your goal and vision. Don’t settle for less than you deserve. You’re capable of doing greater things in life.

Yes, doing a job is great but you’re working for someone else’s dream. You’re NOT working on your own dreams. Even if you’re doing a job, try to hustle your way to work on your business in your spare time.

Once you start getting decent results, you can consider quitting your job to fully focus on your business. That’s exactly what I did when I was working as a full-time SEO consultant for a firm.

I was blogging part-time and once I started earning a decent income, I quit my high-paying job to become a full-time blogger. You can read my blogging journey to find more details about how I went from $0 to $10K per month. Having a long-term vision ALWAYS helps.

Key takeaway: Aim bigger. Always set a long-term vision for your life and business. Don’t be trapped in someone else’s dream. Become your own boss. 

Lesson 5: Identify Skills that Set You Apart from Others

The best way to succeed in your business and career is to learn a high-income skill and find people to pay you for it.

Although Jack Ma doesn’t have coding skills, he’s REALLY good at networking with influencers. He knows how to attract investors who’re interested in his businesses. 

Ma also understands the psychology of his target audience. That’s how he was able to build such great eCommerce empires like Alibaba, Alipay, etc.

The key to identifying skills is to adapt to the changing job market. We all know how fast the world is changing. If you don’t learn and adapt to the “digital marketing boom”, you’re NOT going to survive in the long run.

So make sure to find skills that set you apart from others. Find out what you’re really good at and excel in those skills. That being said, here are some of the high-paying skills you can try to master.

  • Sales and marketing
  • Networking and building relationships with other influencers in your industry
  • Digital marketing
  • Leadership skills 
  • SEO skills

Key takeaway: You need to identify and learn intangible skills to succeed in your business and career. Invest money in books, courses or get a mentor to succeed faster. 

Lesson 6: Give #1 Priority to Ethics in Business

Did you know that Alibaba holds the #1 record sales in one day?

Yes, on Singles Day (which is a popular Chinese holiday celebrated every year on November 11th by unmarried people) Alibaba Group had generated a record sales of over $74.10 billion.

alibaba single day sales

Also, the Alibaba eCommerce store sells millions of dollars worth of products every single day. 

It’s easier to find loopholes to make money when your company processes such a HUGE volume of sales.

But Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma practices the best ethics in business. Whether you know it or not, pirated goods and products are NOT allowed to be sold on Alibaba’s platform.

It ultimately shows how much Jack Ma gives priority to ethics in business, which is also the reason his company is a BIG success.

Key takeaway: No matter what industry you are in, always practice good ethics in your business. That’s how you build trust with your customers. Empower your employees, create great products, and focus on your customers to build a long-lasting business.  

Lesson  7: The Customer is King

Unlike other tech giant founders like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg — Jack Ma is NOT a tech guy. 

But he knows that the customer is king.

Here’s what he has to say about the importance of focusing on customers.

“I’m not a tech guy. I’m looking at the technology with the eyes of my customers, normal people’s eyes.” 

Almost every successful business founder realizes the importance of building a great relationship with their customers. Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Mukesh Ambani – take anyone’s example, you’ll notice they give top priority to their customers.

Key takeaway: You don’t need to have a Ph.D. to learn about the importance of customer service. If you give top priority to the customers and users who’re using your products or services, your business will grow eventually. 

Finding our post on Jack Ma net worth helpful? Then, please consider sharing it with others on social networks 🙂

Lesson 8: Ignore the Naysayers and Achieve Your Dreams

There’s ONE important thing we can all learn from Jack Ma’s success: “ignore the doubters”.

If you have a brilliant idea in mind, stick to implementing it. Yes, there will be doubters, critics, and naysayers – ignore all of them if you have a conviction in your idea.

When Jack Ma introduced Alipay in 2004, many Investors from China rejected his idea. 

Alipay is a third-party payment platform like PayPal that allows users to transfer and receive funds online. Although it sounds like a great idea, back in 2004, many people doubted his idea. 

Nevertheless, he launched it and today Alipay became the world’s biggest online payments platform with over 1.3 billion users. It’s also the #1 digital payment platform in China.

alipay stats

Key takeaway: Whatever you want to do, there will always be doubters and critics. Your job is to work on your idea and ignore the naysayers. 

Lesson 9: Learn from Your Competitors

What’s the BEST way to make your products or business stand out from the crowd?

Competitor research.

Yes, knowing who your competitors are, and what they offer, can help you create amazing products that help you stand out. 

Jack Ma is really good at learning from his competitors. Be it globally or locally, Jack Ma always analyzes his competitors to deliver products in a much efficient way.

jack ma competitors quotes

That said, while analyzing competitors in any industry, it’s easy to copy what they are doing. Don’t copy, take inspiration from them and create better products and services at affordable prices. 

Key takeaway: Look to see if your competition is using digital marketing or SEO to grow their business online. If your competition is NOT online yet, you should develop an online marketing strategy to grow your business. Similarly, if your competitors are only creating cheap products, create high-ticket products. Learn from your competitors, but never copy. 

Lesson 10: Build a Strong Team

In one of his interviews with the “World Economic Forum”, Jack Ma says, “I always find people smarter than I am. Then my job is to make sure smart people can work together. Stupid people can work together easily, smart people can’t.”

jack ma leadership

Here’s what you can learn from his advice;

  • Hire people who are smarter than you
  • Focus on getting them to work together

If you want to build a successful business from scratch, you need a STRONG team as you can’t do everything on your own.

You need to find the RIGHT people who’re actually smarter than you. Then, you need to build an environment where they can happily work for you. 

Key takeaway: Hiring smart people is ALWAYS the best way to fast-track your business. Invest in the right people, create an environment where the smart people would love to work and keep them with you for years (if not decades). That’s how smart people do business!

Read: Best Digital Marketing Quotes That Will Motivate You More in 2024
Read: 15 Best Affiliate Marketing Quotes for 2024
Read: 15 SEO Quotes for Motivation to Boost Your Search Rankings
Read: Best Blogging Quotes of All Time to Inspire You Today


Top 10 Jack Ma Quotes That Will Inspire Entrepreneurs & Go-Getters

Looking for inspiring quotes by Jack Ma? Here are the top 10 Jack Ma quotes about entrepreneurship, failure, and leadership.

1. “Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.”

2. “You have got to keep trying, and if it doesn’t work, you always can revert back to what you were doing before.”

3. “Today, making money is very simple. But making sustainable money while being responsible to society and improving the world is very difficult.”

4.  “The world will not remember what you say, but it will not forget what you have done.”

5. “I know nothing about technology, I know nothing about marketing, I know nothing about (the legal) stuff. I only know about people.”

6. “No matter how tough the chase is, you should always have the dream you saw on the first day. It’ll keep you motivated and rescue you (from any weak thoughts).” 

7. “Instead of learning from other people’s success, learn from their mistakes. Most of the people who fail share common reasons to fail, whereas success can be attributed to various different kinds of reasons.”

8. “Intelligent people need the fool to lead them. When the team’s all a bunch of scientists, it is best to have a peasant lead the way. His way of thinking is different. It’s easier to win if you have people seeing things from different perspectives.”

9. “If you want to win in the 21st century, you have to empower others, making sure other people are better than you. Then you will be successful.”

10. “I try to make myself happy, no, because I know that if I’m not happy, my colleagues are not happy and my shareholders are not happy and my customers are not happy.”

Few More Net Worth Posts:


FAQs on Jack Ma, the Founder of Alibaba

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma.

What is Jack Ma’s story?

Jack Ma is the founder of the Chinese largest eCommerce company Alibaba which was founded in 1999. Ma started his career as a college English teacher. In 1995, he launched his first online business called “China Pages”. In 2004, he founded Alipay which is an online payment platform used by 1.3+ billion people.

Who’s Alibaba’s founder?

Jack Ma Yun is the founder of Alibaba, which is the biggest eCommerce platform and B2B marketplace in China. Daniel Zhang is currently the CEO of the Alibaba Group.

Who is Jack Ma?

Ma Yun aka Jack Ma is a former English teacher, the billionaire founder, and former chairman of Chinese internet giant Alibaba. 

Who is Jack Ma’s wife?

Zhang Ying is the wife of Jack Ma. They have three children and got married after their graduation in 1988.

What is Alibaba’s net worth in 2024?

In the year 2024, Jack Ma’s net worth stands impressively at $24 billion!

What is the current Jack Ma net worth?

As of January 2024, Jack Ma’s net worth has reached $24 billion. Ma is the third-wealthiest person in China and 20th richest person in the world (according to Forbes).


Final Thoughts on Jack Ma Net Worth

Jack Ma is not only rich, but he has also become Iconic because of his humble beginnings. Although Ma stepped down as the CEO of Alibaba, still he holds a considerable stake in it.

Jack Ma succeeded because of his grit, hustle and “never give up” attitude. He always practiced great business ethics and introduced anti-piracy laws to prevent selling pirated goods on his platform.

He’s surely an inspiration for millions of entrepreneurs around the world. So did you like our case study on Jack Ma net worth? What did you learn from Jack Ma’s HUGE success? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

About Author
Anil Agarwal is the Founder of Bloggerspassion. He is a full-time blogger and SEO expert who has been helping people build profitable blogs for over a decade Now. He has been featured in Over 100 Publications including Forbes, The HuffPost, HubSpot, Shopify, Semrush, Kinsta, Bluehost, Hostinger and G2.com etc. Know more about Anil Agarwal from here.

Reader Comments (4)

  1. Awsome and quality information for all kinds of professionals, Anil sir..
    kindly share a this type of post about Bill gates and elon musk

    Reply

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