We should keep on going along the path of globalization. Globalization is good... when trade stops, war comes.
— Jack Ma
In the beginning I just wanted to survive. For the first three years, we made zero revenue. I remember many times when I was trying to pay up, the restaurant owner would say, 'Your bill was paid.' And there would be a note saying, 'Mr. Ma, I'm your customer on the Alibaba platform. I made a lot of money, and I know you don't, so I paid the bill.'
There's an examination for young people to go to university. I failed it three times. I failed a lot. So I applied to 30 different jobs and got rejected. I went for a job with the police; they said, 'You're no good.' I even went to KFC when it came to my city. Twenty-four people went for the job. Twenty-three were accepted.
If the 'Post' can play the role of a connector between the West and the East, I have confidence in the paper's future success.
The world needs new leadership, but the new leadership is about working together.
I got my story, my dream, from America. The hero I had is Forrest Gump... I like that guy. I've been watching that movie about 10 times. Every time I get frustrated, I watch the movie. I watched the movie before I came here again to New York. I watched the movie again telling me that no matter whatever changed, you are you.
Alibaba is an ecosystem that helps small business to grow.
Before I left China, I was educated that China was the richest, happiest country in the world. So when I arrived Australia, I thought, 'Oh my God, everything is different from what I was told.' Since then, I started to think differently.
My dream was to set up my own e-commerce company. In 1999, I gathered 18 people in my apartment and spoke to them for two hours about my vision. Everyone put their money on the table, and that got us $60,000 to start Alibaba. I wanted to have a global company, so I chose a global name.
Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.
I try to make myself happy, no, because I know that if I'm not happy, my colleagues are not happy and my shareholders are not happy and my customers are not happy.
I'm not a tech guy. I'm looking at the technology with the eyes of my customers, normal people's eyes.
I don't want to be liked. I want to be respected.
I don't care about revenues.
The very important thing you should have is patience.
I think Yahoo is a great company, with great assets.
I am going to enjoy some other things apart from business.
The competition between me and Bill Gates, probably: Who can spend money more effectively that can do better philanthropy.
On privacy issues, it's just like hundreds of years ago when people said, 'I would rather put my money under my pillow than in a bank.' But today, banks know how to protect money much better than you do. Today, we may not have the answers to privacy issues, but I believe our young people will come up with the solutions.
What a publication can do is to help people get a clearer picture without jumping to any rash conclusion. I'm very happy that the 'Post' can take the responsibility to report on China in a broader and deeper way. I believe the 'Post' must be fair to our readers. We should let our readers see China from more angles and perspectives.
Asia is changing, and China is changing. The 'Post' will have great opportunities. With its access to Alibaba's resources, data, and all the relationships in our ecosystem, the 'Post' can report on Asia and China more accurately compared with other media that have no such access.
The American multinational companies made millions and millions of dollars from globalization.
EBay is a great company. There are a lot of good assets and good customers, and the U.S. people love it.
I want to change history, do something important in my life, and influence individuals like we have with millions of small businesses on Alibaba. Then they love and respect you because you made their life important.
When I am myself, I am happy and have a good result.
I flunked my exam for university two times before I was accepted by what was considered my city's worst university, Hangzhou Teachers University. I was studying to be a high school English teacher. In my university, I was elected student chairman and later became chairman of the city's Students Federation.
I don't want people in China to have deep pockets but shallow minds.
My job is to help more people have jobs.
You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.
A peace talk is always difficult, always complicated.
What kind of business world are we living in?
Today the financial market is no good, but the money is there.
I know nothing about technology.
Nobody wanted to believe Jack Ma.
Spending money is much more difficult than making money.
When I was starting out, I thought about how the Internet is global and that we should have a global name, a name that's interesting. At that time, the best name was Yahoo! Suddenly I thought, 'Alibaba is a good name.'
The more I come to know about the outside world's perception of China, the more I feel there are all sorts of misunderstandings, and to a certain extent, people do not get the full picture from the media. A lot of foreigners have few opportunities to visit China, and a lot of Chinese people do not have the chance to go to Europe or to the West.
As a business person, I want the world to share the prosperity together.
It's not that other countries steal jobs from you guys. It's your strategy. Distribute the money and things in a proper way.
Chinese people, young people, they don't go shopping a lot in department stores. All department store guys hate me. They say business is bad because of Jack.
Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.
The lessons I learned from the dark days at Alibaba are that you've got to make your team have value, innovation, and vision. Also, if you don't give up, you still have a chance. And, when you are small, you have to be very focused and rely on your brain, not your strength.
When I was 12 years old, I got interested in learning English.
I don't shop online, but my wife buys everything at home. We buy sea crabs, fresh crabs, all kinds of things.
I like to play cards. I'm not very good, because I don't want to calculate, I just play by instinct. But I've learned a lot of business philosophy by playing poker.
I'm a normal guy.
If Alibaba cannot become a Microsoft or Wal-Mart, I will regret it for the rest of my life.
People think, 'Jack, you do too much.'
I absolutely don't have $20 billion. But I'd love to, right?
I want people to learn what democracy means.
