09/415C Alibaba’s Jack Ma: Rise of the New Chinese Entrepreneur
4
Ma sent shockwaves through the internet community when he was rumoured to have donated
only Rmb 1 (US$0.14 20). When the community criticised him for ignoring the plight of his
countrymen, he responded by saying:
The major social responsibility of entrepreneurs in China is not to donate
money, but to put their enterprises on the right track ... Even if one is rich,
one should not be too keen to make a donation ... One should always invest
more with more money, snowballing the enterprise into a much larger
corporation and creating a lot more employment opportunities ... I am not
the sort of person who goes after fame. Money will do. Without money you
cannot assume your social responsibility, cannot pay taxes, cannot create,
and society will not progress.
- Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba21
Although the Alibaba group was quick to come to Ma’s defence, stating that he had in fact
personally donated well over US$100,000 and that he was also chairing a special committee
set up to co-ordinate the donations from employees and the company, his public image in
China—especially among internet users—suffered apparent damage.22
Standing His Ground
Ma was again cast in a negative light when he openly spoke out against public sentiment in
the months leading up to the Beijing Summer Olympics in August 2008. Sensing that the
global economy was bound to sink into “the most complex and difficult economic era since
the second world war”, he was a lone voice of caution against the intensifying anticipation of
a sustained economic boom in China associated with the Olympic games.23 At a lecture he
gave in Hong Kong, Ma explained his dissent, saying that “when 80% of the people focused
on one thing and had high expectation for it, something must be wrong”. Such belief,
ironically, had been formed during Alibaba’s IPO in late 2007. Prior to the actual IPO, when
Ma and his team travelled around the world to secure investment for the company, he was
taken aback by the lack of curiosity about the company among investors before committing
their money. Despite Ma’s repeated disclaimer that e-commerce would take longer than
commonly expected to become truly profitable in China, he felt that investors were instead far
more interested in making quick profits through speculative investment. The rapid rise in
Alibaba.com’s stock price on the day of its listing alone and the subsequent profit-taking
confirmed Ma’s scepticism, which led him to believe that such unsustainable economic
activity would eventually lead to an implosion of the global economy. As the Beijing
Olympics neared, Ma saw that people in China were displaying the same mania over the
country’s economic outlook as Alibaba.com’s investors had with the company’s IPO, and
considered taking more drastic measures to moderate public sentiment.24
Response to External Pressure
Ma’s unusual approach was also reflected in his state of mind in the run-up to Alibaba’s IPO
in November 2007. Whereas virtually all chief executives would be drained by extremely
20 US$1 = Rmb 6.97 on 20 May 2008. 21 The Standard (20 May 2008) “Charity Stays at Home for Mean Tycoon Ma”. 22 ᄅᄅᄅᄅ (2008 ڣ05 ִ19 ֲ) ψᄅᄅᄅ߀ᄅᄅᄅցΛ ᄅ֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣֣٦ᄅ2500 ᄅᄅᄅᄅߢω [Sina News (19 May 2008)
“Jack Ma Only Donated One Yuan? Alibaba Donated Another 25 Million Yuan to Crush Rumours”]. 23 ᄅٽᄅ (2008 ڣ9 ִ11 ֲ) ψᄅ߆ ໌ທ٤ᄅNo.1 ᄅᄅᄅᄅω [United Daily News (11 September 2008) “Crazy Jack
Ma, Creating World’s No. 1 Online Platform”]. 24 Ma, J. (1 December 2008) “Economic Winter: Now What?”, Speech at the Edward K.Y. Chen Distinguished Lecture Series,
The University of Hong Kong.
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