Alibaba (BABA)/ 9988 HK; Jack Ma 01 (May 08 - Apr 16)

[winston]

Zhang Ying, the wife of Alibaba founder Jack Ma

Zhang Ying is the wife of Ma Yun, the billionaire founder and former chairman of Chinese internet giant Alibaba.

Zhang met Ma at the Hangzhou Teacher's Institute, now known as Hangzhou Normal University, when the two were students. The couple married shortly after graduating in the late 1980s and both began working as teachers.

"Ma Yun is not a handsome man, but I fell for him because he can do a lot of things handsome men cannot do," Zhang said.

Despite being named as one of the 10 best young teachers in Hangzhou, Ma decided to quit his job and open his own translation company. In 1995, Ma started China Yellowpages, widely believed to be one of China's first internet-based company, before setting up Alibaba, China's first business-to-business commerce website, in 1999, along with 16 other partners.

Zhang also quit her job to support her husband and join Alibaba as the company's "political commissar." However, Zhang said she spent most of the company's early days cooking meals for the attendees of her husband's impromptu meetings at all hours of the day and running odd errands.

A couple of years later, Zhang asked her husband how much money the company had made, and Ma raised a single finger. "Ten million yuan (US$1.6 million)?" Zhang asked, and Ma said no. "A hundred million (US$16 million)?" she asked, and Ma said no again. "One million (US$160,000)," Ma said to Zhang's disappointment, until he added, "a day."

All the time and effort Zhang and Ma spent on Alibaba took its toll at home. Zhang admitted that they had effectively "sacrificed" their son, born in 1992, for the sake of the company, sending him to child care five days a week and only seeing him on weekends.

In 2002, when Zhang was the general manager of Alibaba's China headquarters, her 10-year-old son became addicted to online gaming and spent most of his time in internet cafes. He told his parents that it was pointless coming home because they were never there anyway.

Concerned about their son, Ma asked Zhang to step down as general manager and re-dedicate herself to becoming a full-time housewife. Our family needs you more now than the company, Ma had told her, asking her to choose between money and their son.

At first, Zhang was not happy with the request. She said she felt like Ma was treating herlike a chess piece — when they first married she had been set on becoming a housewife, but was "tricked" into joining Alibaba, but when the company finally became successful he wanted her to go back to being a housewife.

Eventually, Zhang learned to embrace the role. She now starts off her day making breakfast for her son before taking him to school and heading out to buy groceries and prepare for dinner.

Ma has been appreciative of Zhang's sacrifice and attibuted his success both at Alibaba and at home to her. "She helps me a lot with my career and family," he said.

Alibaba is now one China's number one e-commerce company with a market value of US$4 billion.

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subc ... 0930000087

[winston]

Jack Ma: If You’re Poor At 35, You Deserve It

By Zach Ho via VulcanPost.com

http://www.thetradingreport.com/2014/09 ... eserve-it/

[behappyalways]

凤凰快讯 马云(阿里巴巴CEO)接受CNBC专访全程飙英文：我心中的英雄是阿甘
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZZkfJHhJCo

[behappyalways]

Alibaba's Singles' Day sales exceed predictions at $9.3bn
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29999289

[behappyalways]

Jack Ma: Being China's richest man has made me unhappy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/chin ... happy.html

[behappyalways]

Alibaba Now Bigger Than P&G, GE and Wells Fargo
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014 ... lls-fargo/

[behappyalways]

Jack Ma: Alibaba is 'still just a baby'
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102362568

[winston]

Alibaba roasted for `arrogance'

A powerful mainland regulator yesterday blasted e-commerce giant Alibaba for allowing "illegal" actions on its multibillion-dollar online shopping platform, accusing executives of conceit in an unusual government dressing down of a major domestic company.

The State Administration for Industry & Commerce, charged with maintaining market order, said Alibaba's platforms had hosted "long-standing" violations of online business laws and regulations.

It took aim at Taobao, Alibaba's consumer-to-consumer platform, which is estimated to hold more than 90 percent of the mainland market, and Tmall.com, likely with more than half the domestic market for business-to-consumer deals.

"Alibaba has not paid enough attention to illegal operations on its online trading platforms or taken effective measures to tackle them," the regular said. This caused "the biggest credibility crisis since its establishment."

It also accused Alibaba of poor oversight of employees and merchants and products on its platforms, disorganized sales management and a flawed rating system for users.

Alibaba, founded by Jack Ma Yun in 1999, is China's biggest e-commerce company. It listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year, raising a record US$25 billion (HK$194 billion). The firm releases quarterly results today.

Also revealed for the first time is that the SAIC gave Alibaba "administrative guidance" a form of official censure in July ahead of the New York listing. And the meeting was held privately "to avoid impacting the progress of work before Alibaba's listing."

In one request to Alibaba, the SAIC also ordered Alibaba executives to "overcome arrogance."

Taobao let unregistered merchants sell on its platforms, allowed trade in fake goods and failed to manage misleading advertising, the SAIC said.

Yesterday, Alibaba said it would take responsibility for cracking down on fake goods but added it would file a complaint against an SAIC official for "procedural misconduct" in the survey process.

Yahoo announced that its management has recommended to the board of directors a plan to spin off its 15 percent stake in Alibaba Group worth about US$40 billion through the creation of a new company. Stock will be distributed pro-rata to Yahoo shareholders.

Source: REUTERS

[behappyalways]

Jack Ma Loses $1.4 Billion as Alibaba Stock Drops
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... s-estimate

[behappyalways]

Alibaba Prepares to Report
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/20 ... ose-01-27-