Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-11-16
Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, recently said that he is looking for ways to use his wealth to give back to society and wants to compete with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to spend money more efficiently on charity.
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| Jack Ma. (File photo/CNS) |
Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, recently said that he is looking for ways to use his wealth to give back to society and wants to compete with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to spend money more efficiently on charity.
"It's
even more difficult to spend money than to make it," Ma stated while
elaborating on his business operating philosophy at this year's Singles Day
shopping festival event on Nov. 11.
He added
that he was unhappy of late and found being the country's richest man "a
great pain." He believes that the record-setting US$25 billion that his
company's IPO was valued at may have contributed to this stress.
Ma saw his
fortune swell to US$19.5 billion after Alibaba stood at a record-breaking US$25
billion IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 19. The company's share
price closed at US$114.54 on Nov. 12, almost twice its offer price of US$68.
He further
noted that Alibaba's listing was not meant to make money. Instead, it was meant
to make the company's governance more transparent by putting it under the
supervision of its shareholders and users around the world.
"The
primary reason for going public was that it calls for more transparent
corporate governance and puts stock investors and users around the world in a
position to supervise the company and take part in its development," the
executive chairman explained.
Ma also
pointed out that he intended to get Alibaba listed in the stock market in
Shanghai. "For various reasons, Alibaba cannot be listed on the A-share market,
but we hope Alipay can list on it in the future," he added.
Alipay is
the country's most popular online payment tool launched by Alibaba.
Since
Alibaba went public, Ma said that he has been under tremendous pressure due to
high expectations from investors. "The stock value may rise; people may
have high expectations of you; I may just think too much about the future and
have too many things to worry about," he said.
The founder
of the e-commerce giant admitted that while being a rich man was good, being
the richest man in China was not. "It's a great pain because when you're
(the) richest person in the world, everybody (is) surrounding you for your
money," he stated during an interview with CNBC at his company's
headquarters in Hangzhou the same day.
In order to
get rid of this "pain," Ma noted that he was looking at ways to use
his money to give back to society.
He affirmed
that he is considering establishing a foundation that can "spend money
following a business-like framework." He may even compete with the other
global billionaires in this regard.
"The
competition is probably between me and Bill Gates-who can spend money more
effectively and who can be a better philanthropist," he said.
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