Amid Jack Ma's disappearance rumours, look back at his journey from teacher to billionaire

Amid rumours of billionaire Jack Ma missing following months of scrutiny by Chinese Communist State, here's a look back at journey of Alibaba founder, who literally made one of first pieces of information about China available on internet in early days. Before founding Alibaba, which went on to become one of largest e-commerce sites in world, Ma had been rejected by several companies, including police where he applied for jobs. 

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Ma was interested in learning English langu ever since he was a kid. Ma would guide English-speaking tourists in his city of Hangzhou in order to learn langu. Ma also made one of tourists a pen friend, which gave him name 'Jack' because he found it difficult to prounce his Chinese name. Ma n rolled into Hangzhou rmal University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He taught English at Hangzhou Dianzi University before leaving job.

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Ma went to United States for first time in 1995, where he came to kw about internet. Ma searched for many things when he first got his hands on a computer with an active internet connection in US. However, Ma was left surprised when he failed to find any information regarding China on web. Ma and his friends n launched a website consisting of general information about China called 'China Ps'. 

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After just two hours of launch, Ma started receiving calls from several Chinese investors who wanted to enquire about him. Ma began building websites for Chinese companies with help of his friends as he had kwledge about writing codes. Ma also worked with Chinese government's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Ecomic Cooperation, where he headed an information techlogy company. He quit job in 1999 and returned to Hangzhou, where he founded Alibaba with his friends. 

Ma went on to become one of richest men on planet and was also richest man in Asia for quite some time. According to Bloomberg's Billionaire's Index, Ma is currently worth $50 billion and ranks 25th in world. 

Read: China Blocks Jack Ma's Ant Group Co From Making Biggest Stock Market Debut

Ma's disappearance

Jack Ma is trending at number six on Twitter after reports emerged that 56-year-old businessman, who is currently under scanner of ruling Communist Party, has t been seen in public for weeks. Jack Ma posted his last tweet on October 10, 2020, which has also raised many eyebrows about his whereabouts because Chinese Communist Party has a torious history of abducting influential people who are under ir radar.

Read: Chinese Billionaire Jack Ma Missing? Speculation Rife Amid Xi's Crackdown On Alibaba Boss

(Im Credit: AP)