Coverage of Chinese tech giant and former Alibaba chairman.

Insights: Jack Ma

 A lot of people don't like globalization. And I personally believe globalization is a great thing for the world. The only thing is that how we can improve globalization to enable more small business, more young people to get involved. What if we can use a new mechanism, new technology can enable one billion, or two billion, or three billion people to do trade. EW [INAUDIBLE],, electronic world trade platform. With the [INAUDIBLE] should be sponsored and enforced to buy the business and supported by government. So if we can build up a platform that can enable small business and young people to do a free trade and open fair trade globally, this is going to be very fundamental for the next 20 or 30 years for the economy and for this century. 

Insights: Jack Ma Champions Small Business to G20 Leaders

Uncategorized

Jack Ma Champions Small Business to G20 Leaders

Jack Ma discusses globalization in this August 2016 FORTUNE exclusive.

a lot of people don't like globalization, and I personally believe globalization is a great I think for the world. The only thing is that how we can improve globalization to enable more small business, more young people to get involved. What if we can? Using a new mechanics and new technology enable one building or two billion or three billion people to do trade he w people. Elektronik won't trade platform within the deputy bishop responsive and enforced to buy the business and supported by government. So if we can build up a platform that can enable small business a young people to do with free trade on open, fair trade globally, there's going to be very fundamental for the next 20 or 30 years. War economy for this century.

 We had a great meeting. It's jobs, you just saw what happened with Fiat, where they're going to build a massive plant in the United States in Michigan. And we're very happy. And Jack and I are going to do some great things. Small business, right? We'll focus on small business. I think that the president-elect is very smart. He's very open-minded in listening. So I tell him my ideas about how to improve the trade, especially supporting small business cross-border trading and business. We discussed about the helping the American small business selling things through Alibaba platform to China and to Asia. So we mainly talk about small business, and young people, and American agriculture products with China. And we also think that China and USA relationship should be strengthened. It should be more friendly and do better. 

Insights: Jack Ma Discusses Meeting with Donald Trump

He called Trump “smart” and “openminded."

Jack Ma Discusses Meeting with Donald Trump

The Alibaba Group chairman called Trump “smart” and “openminded” after meeting with him January 2017. 

we had a great meeting. It's jobs. Just so what happened with beyond where they're gonna build a massive plants in the United States in Michigan, and we're very happy, and Jack and I are gonna do some great things. Small business, right? I thinking that the president elect is very smart, very open minded listening. So I tell him my ideas about how to improve trade, especially supporting small business, possible trading and discuss about helping the American small business selling things on the platform. China and Asia Way. Many talk about a small business, young people and American agriculture products with China, and we also think that China US relationship should be should be more friendly and do better.

Insights: Alibaba’s Hong Kong IPO Is the Biggest of 2019

Alibaba’s Hong Kong IPO Is the Biggest of 2019

[MUSIC PLAYING] If China continues to grow-- it's such a big market, it's such a rich market. You're moving from virtual to online. Do you have any need to go to the rest of the world? Can you build your business here in China? No, I think it's-- one of the-- 80% of my reason last year going global is that going all the countries, is I want to share our experience. I want to share my view and our view that globalization is a great step. It's just a baby. Let's improve it. Trade is so good because when trading stops, war starts. If trade stops, peace stops. So that's why we're traveling around the world. One Road, One Belt. We have to make sure everybody benefits from the free trade. We have to make sure every country benefits from the globalization. We have to sure farmers can sell things. We have to making sure young people benefit. Are you worried that we may be headed towards a trade war? Well, I don't think so. I think people are smart. I think people understand that it's easy to launch a war, but it's so difficult to stop a war. You've had this conversation with President Trump. Can you tell us about what you learned from that? Yeah, I think he listened. I talked to him about how important trade is, how important it should be doing business with China globally. And I think he's making progress. He's trying hard. We see the China-USA trade-- we have problems, right? Not only in two countries, the problem is very simple and easy. Even a wife and a husband have problems. So I think they are trying their best. I think that's why we should never wait for politicians, a president to talk. Business people, we have to do our best to build up the environment, to build, to connect ourselves to talk. We should never wait for policies. We should go before the policy and try to do it. 

Insights: Jack Ma: 'When Trade Stops, Peace Stops'

Alibaba founder discusses the possibility of a trade war.

Jack Ma: 'When Trade Stops, Peace Stops'

Alibaba founder discusses the possibility of a trade war between the US and China at the December 2017 FORTUNE Global Forum.

if China continues to grow. It's such a big market. Such a rich market. You're moving from virtual online. Do you have any need to go to the rest of the world? Can you build your business here in China? No, I think it's one of the 80% of my reason last year going global. Is that going all the countries I want to share our experience? I want to show my view and our view that globalization is a great step. It's just a baby. Let's improve it. Trade is so good because when traded stops wall, stop If Trey stopped peace stop. So this is why we're traveling around. Whoa, one roto about. We have to making sure everybody benefit from the free trade. We have to making sure every country benefit from the globalization we have to share. Farmers can't sell things. We have to making sure young people benefit. Are you want? Are you worried that we may be headed towards a trade war? Well, I don't think so. I think people are smart. I think people understand that it's easy to launch a war. It's so difficult to stop more. You have had this conversation with President Trump. Can you tell us about what you learned from that? Yeah, I think he listened. I talked him about how important trade is all important. That should be doing business with China globally. And I think he's making progress. Is trying hard way. See the China US A. Trick. We have a problem, right? Not only two countries. That problem's very simple. In the UC, even wife and husband have problems, so I think they're trying their best. I think that's why we should never wait for politicians. President of talk business people. We have to do our best to build up the environment tribute to connect ourselves to talk. We should never wait for policies. We should go before the policy and tried to do it.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Jack Ma is the executive chairman and founder of the Alibaba Group, which is China's largest e-commerce company. Pony Ma is the CEO and founder of Tencent, which is China's largest gaming and messaging company. And now these two massively powerful, extremely well-run, and fast-growing Chinese internet companies are in direct competition with each other. And what's interesting about these companies is how much they have in common, and how different they are. Both are half a trillion dollar market capitalization companies that are far and away the two leaders of the Chinese internet industry. And each is dominant in what it does. Alibaba's a commerce and then later, a payments company. Tencent is a gaming and then messaging company through its extremely popular WeChat service. People very frequently compare Alibaba to Amazon, but that's a poor comparison. It's more like eBay in that Alibaba doesn't hold inventory. It is a platform for selling merchandise. It's really an advertising platform, not a retailer. Tencent, people want to compare to Facebook. It's far more like a combination of Activision Blizzard and other publishers of games, and Facebook, and PayPal, and a very large investment bank as well. The two top guys could not be more different from each other. Jack Ma of Alibaba is a gregarious, globe-trotting business celebrity who speaks excellent English. Well-known throughout the world has a true gift for gab in two languages, and is a sort of visionary, outspoken leader for Alibaba. Pony Ma, by contrast, is a reserved, introverted, quiet, steely engineer who rarely gives interviews to the Western media, and not so much to the Chinese media, either. And now where things get really interesting, this story of Ma vs. Ma, is that the two are starting to increasingly become competitive with each other. Largely because Tencent through WeChat has started to facilitate online payments. While payments is what Alibaba's strength was in through its e-commerce platform, more people buy goods from all over the world. Digital payments in China is a whole different ballgame from what people in the West can appreciate. The credit card never really was a big deal in China, which has only been a modern industrialized country for the past 20 years or so. So the Chinese went straight to smartphones and straight to digital payment, which is why this has become such a key battleground for Alibaba which has Alipay and Tencent which has WeChat Pay. Because of this emphasis on payments, both companies have identified retail as a key battleground in China. They're trying to do two things. They're trying to lock in payments partners with these retailers, and they're also trying to sell them technology. US business people always want to know when are Alibaba and Tencent coming to the United States? The short answer is, well, one, they're already here, and that each company, in particular, Tencent, has made many large investments in the United States. In another sense, the answer is no time soon. Neither company sees a huge advantage in trying to operate in the US market, which is a very mature economy with fierce competitors like Amazon, and Facebook, and Google. They see better opportunity in other Asian countries, in particular, in Southeast Asia, for example, which is an immature economy with immature retail and with a fast rising internet culture that is far more like modern China than it is like the United States. Alibaba and Tencent are two examples of companies that have been able to build a giant business while having China more or less to themselves in their key areas. But to focus on that too much would be to miss the point that non-Chinese companies and business people have a lot to learn from these innovative companies, and that the day may come when they aren't content to operate primarily in China or in Southeast Asia, and may well come to North America. We just don't know when that will be. 

Insights: Jack Ma and Pony Ma Go Head to Head

Jack Ma runs Alibaba, and Pony Ma runs Tencent.

Jack Ma and Pony Ma Go Head to Head

Jack Ma runs Alibaba, and Pony Ma runs Tencent. (June 2018)

Jack Miles, the executive chairman and founder of the Ali Baba Group, which is China's largest e commerce company. Pony Ma is the CEO and founder of 10 Cent, which is China's largest gaming and messaging company. And now these two massively powerful, extremely well run and fast growing Chinese Internet companies are in direct competition with each other. And what's interesting about these companies is how much they have in common and how different they are. Both are half a trillion dollar market capitalization companies that are far and away the two leaders of the Chinese Internet industry and each dominant and what it does. Ali Baba is commerce and then later a payments company. Consent is a gaming and then messaging company through. It's extremely popular re check service. People very frequently compare Ali Baba to Amazon, but that's a poor comparison. It's more like eBay in that Alibaba doesn't hold inventory. It is a platform for selling merchandise. It's really an advertising platform, not a retailer. 10 cent. People want to compare to Facebook. It's farm or like a combination of Activision, Blizzard and other publishers of games and Facebook and PayPal, and a very large investment bank as well. The two top guys could not be more different from each other. Jack MMA of Ali Baba is a gregarious, globetrotting business celebrity who speaks excellent English, well known throughout the world, has a true gift for Gabin two languages and is a sort of visionary, outspoken leader for Ali Baba pony. Ma, by contrast, is a reserved, introverted, quiet Dele engineer who rarely gives interviews to the Western media and not so much to the Chinese media, either. And now, where things get really interesting, this story of Ma versus Ma is that the two are starting to increasingly become competitive with each other, largely because 10 cent through we Chat has started to facilitate online payments. While payments is what Ali Baba strength was in through its e commerce platform, where people buy goods from all over the world, digital payments in China is a whole different ballgame from what people in the West can appreciate. The credit card never really was a big deal in China, which has only been a modern industrialized country for the past 20 years or so. So the Chinese went straight to smartphones and straight to digital payment, which is why this has become such a key battleground for Ali Baba, which has Ali Pay, and 10 Cent, which has we checked because of this emphasis on payments. Both companies have identified retail as a key battleground in China. They're trying to do two things. They're trying to lock in payments partners with these retailers, and they're also trying to sell them technology. US. Business people always want to know. When our Ali Baba and 10 Cent coming to the United States, the short answer is, well, one, they're already here in that. Each company, in particular 10 Cent has made many large investments in the United States. In another sense, the answer is no time soon. Neither company's. He's a huge advantage in trying to operate in the U. S. Market, which is a very mature economy with fierce competitors like Amazon and Facebook and Google. They see better opportunity in other Asian countries, in particular in Southeast Asia, for example, which is an immature economy with immature retail and with a with a fast rising Internet culture that is far more like modern China than it is like the United States. Alibaba and 10 Center two examples of companies that have been able to build a giant business while having China Maur less to themselves in their key areas. But to focus on that too much would be to miss the point that non Chinese companies and business people have a lot to learn from these innovative companies and that the day may come when they aren't content to operate primarily in China or in Southeast Asia, and may well come to North America. We just don't know when that will be.

 [UPTEMPO MUSIC] 80% of my reason last year going global is that going all the countries is I want to share our experience. I want to share my view and our view that globalization is a great step. It's just a baby. Let's improve it. Trade is so good because when trade stops, war starts. If trade stops, peace stops. So that's why we're traveling around the world, one road to one belt. We have to make sure everybody benefits from the free trade. [UPTEMPO MUSIC] Jack and I are gonna do some great things. Small business, right? We'll focus on small business. [UPTEMPO MUSIC] 

The e-commerce king departs on his 55th birthday.

Insights: Jack Ma Ends 20-Year Reign at Alibaba 

Jack Ma Ends 20-Year Reign at Alibaba 

80% of my reason last year. Going global is going all the countries I wanna share our spears. I want to show my view and our view that globalization is a great step. It's just a baby. Let's improve it. Trade is so good because when traded stops wall, stop if trade stop, Pete, stop! So that's why we're traveling around. Whoa! Why Roto about? We have to make sure everybody benefit from the free weights. Jack and I are gonna do great things, right?

[MUSIC PLAYING] Jack Ma is the executive chairman and co-founder of a Chinese company called Alibaba. People like to call it the "Amazon of China" or the "eBay of China." It's really that and many, many more things. As I write in my article, in which we named Jack Ma, the number two on our world's greatest leaders list for 2017, he's somebody who can lower the tension a little bit in trade relations between the United States and China because he plays so well to different audiences. Jack Ma is somebody with international connections. He's the richest man in China and is extremely well-connected, both in the Chinese government and outside of it. He solidified this by showing up for a meeting with President-elect Trump in Trump Tower just a few weeks before his inauguration. [MUSIC PLAYING] Jack Ma and Alibaba are in a very interesting place right now. It's a company that is extremely successful in China and also fairly well-known in business communities outside of China, in particular because of its blockbuster IPO in 2014 in the United States. But it's still very much a Chinese business wanting to move outside of its home markets. Jack Ma 52 years old and has been running Alibaba for 18 years. He's not the CEO anymore. He has delegated the responsibilities for most things that happen at Alibaba to very capable executives. He leads the company. He guides its direction and its strategy. He also is the kind of figure that a Western audience would understand, in that he's very interested in philanthropy. He began his career as a teacher, and so he helps teachers and principals in China. He's interested in the environment. He's interested in the health and well-being of his employees, which is not what we typically associate with a hard-driving entrepreneurial executive in China. Westerners don't know much about Alibaba, despite having heard the name, because they typically are not customers of the company. This is a company that generates the vast majority of its revenues in China. That said, it's a company that is going to continue moving outside of China. It's investing heavily in other places, including India, Southeast Asia, and even in technology companies in the United States. So what people will need to keep in mind is that this is a company that's going to increasingly be on their minds in years to come-- and not just as an investment, but increasingly as a business partner for Western business people. [MUSIC PLAYS]

Insights: How the Richest Man in China Is Taking on Amazon

Alibaba Founder Jack Ma is investing in small business.

How the Richest Man in China Is Taking on Amazon

Alibaba Founder Jack Ma is investing in small business and tech. (March 2017)

Jack Ma is the executive chairman and co founder of a Chinese company called Ali Baba. People like to call it the Amazon of China or the eBay of China. It's really that and many, many more things, as I write in my article, in which we named Jack Model number two on Our World's greatest leaders list for 2017. He's somebody who can lower the tension a little bit in trade relations between the United States and China because he plays so well. It's a different audience, Jack, mind somebody with international connections, the richest man in China and extremely well connected both in the Chinese government and outside of it. He solidified this by showing up for a meeting with President elect Trump in Trump Tower just a few weeks before his inauguration. Jackman, Ali Baba are in a very interesting place right now. It's a company that is extremely successful in China and also fairly well known in business communities outside of China, in particular because of its blockbuster I Po in 2014 in the United States. But it's still very much a Chinese business wanting to move outside of its home markets Jack Mind, 52 years old and has been running Ali Baba for 18 years. He's not CEO anymore. He has delegated responsibilities for most things that happened at Alibaba, two very capable executives he leaves, the company guides its direction and its strategy. He also is the kind of figure that a Western audience would understand and that he's very interested in philanthropy. He began his career as a teacher, and so he helped teachers and principals in China. He's interested in the environment. He's interested in the health and well being off his employees, which is not what we typically associate with a hard driving entrepreneurial executive in China. Westerners don't know much about Ali Baba, despite having heard the name because they typically are not customers of the company. This is a company that generates vast majority of its revenues in China. That said, it's a company that is going to continue moving outside of China, is investing heavily in other places, including India, Southeast Asia and even in technology companies in the United. So what people will need to keep in line is that this is a company that's going to increasingly be on their minds in years to come, and not just as an investment but increasingly as a business partner for Western business people.

Insights: Jack Ma

Insights: Jack Ma Champions Small Business to G20 Leaders

Latest video

Jack Ma discusses globalization in this August 2016 FORTUNE exclusive.

Videos (7 videos)

Insights: Jack Ma Champions Small Business to G20 Leaders

Insights: Jack Ma Discusses Meeting with Donald Trump

Insights: Alibaba’s Hong Kong IPO Is the Biggest of 2019

Insights: Jack Ma: 'When Trade Stops, Peace Stops'

Insights: Jack Ma and Pony Ma Go Head to Head

Insights: Jack Ma Ends 20-Year Reign at Alibaba

Insights: How the Richest Man in China Is Taking on Amazon