The
founders of Chinese internet giant Alibaba announced on Friday they will set up
their own charitable fund.
Chinese
internet entrepreneurs Jack Ma and Joe Tsai said the charitable trust will be
funded by 2% of Alibaba's equity, which they received as share options in the
company last year.
Alibaba
announced in March its plans to go public in the US. The company's valuation
has been estimated at between US$100-200 billion.
Based on
this estimation, Ma's foundation is expected to boast funding between US$2-4
billion, equivalent to the yearly fiscal revenue of a Chinese prefectural-level
city.
Ma said in
an exclusive interview with Xinhua that he has not decided on the name of the
foundation, but it will focus on environmental, medical, educational and
cultural programs within China and overseas.
"My
wife and I had this thought of setting up a personal charitable fund when we
started the business. We'd like to earn money before we turn 50 years old and
do charitable work in our own time after 50," said the billionaire, who
will turn 50 in September.
He left his
position as Alibaba's CEO last year. In the same year, he served as a chair of
the US Nature Conservancy's China board of directors.
Ma said the
foundation will focus on four main issues, including cancer.
"I'm
not going to become a doctor, but I have my own way of saving lives," Ma
said.
Ma's
philanthropic vision has won the support of Western business leaders.
Bill Gates,
co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said that the generosity,
leadership of Ma and Tsai and the examples they set will "do an immense
amount of good, particularly in this remarkable time in the development of
philanthropy in China."
Warren
Buffett, trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said Ma and Tsai
have been "extraordinary leaders in business and have now become leaders
in philanthropy."
Wealthy
Chinese businessmen have been criticised by the public for their lack of
philanthropic conscience.
Ma said
that philanthropic work in China is "more lacking in institutional
building and personnel training."
"Charity
work in China has just started. We are learning, and we will do more when we
gain experience," he said.
Ma
personally retains 7.3% of the equity of Alibaba, which has been keen to expand
out of its core online retail business to shopping malls, home appliances,
mapping services and financial services through a series of acquisitions since
last year.
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