AMN / WEB DESK
The chairman of famous Alibaba Group, Jack Ma has decided to step down from his current role at the company. In an interview to New York Times he said that he planed to step down from his role at the company on Monday, marking the end of an era at China’s e-commerce tycoon.
Ma told NYT that 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.
China’s richest man however said that he would remain on Alibaba’s board of directors as he pursues philanthropic endeavours, the New York Times reported. Ma told Bloomberg earlier this week that he wanted to dedicate more of his time and fortune to philanthropy with the creation of a foundation in his own name focused on education, following in the footsteps of fellow billionaire Bill Gates.
Ma, who turns 54 on Monday, has a net worth of more than $40 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index..
A former English teacher, Mr. Ma started Alibaba in 1999 and built it into one of the world’s most consequential e-commerce and digital payments companies, transforming how Chinese people shop and pay for things. That fueled his net worth to more than $40 billion, making him China’s richest man. He is revered by many Chinese, some of whom have put his portrait in their homes to worship in the same way that they worship the God of Wealth.