Today, Chinese Billionaire Philanthropist Jack Ma has officially retired as executive chairman of Alibaba. To date, Alibaba is the largest multinational conglomerate holding company in China, with stakes in e-commerce, retail, technology, and cloud computing.

This year, the company which was founded in 1999, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Now valued at over $460 billion, Alibaba has gone from a regular e-commerce business to a conglomerate under Ma’s leadership.

In his two decades serving as Alibaba’s chairman, Ma became active not just in expanding his company but with charity works as well. With a big chunk of responsibility taken off his shoulders, Ma is now reportedly pivoting to philanthropy.

Back in 2014, Ma’s admiration of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation led him to establish the Jack Ma Foundation for his charitable undertakings.

Ma is just 55 years old, and some people speculate that with a lot of time now at his disposal, he could finally focus on his other interests like philanthropy, women’s empowerment, and education to name a few.

The Billionaire Philanthropist

During Alibaba’s Investor Day last year, Ma was quoted as saying:

“Before I’m 70 years old, I can do something in other fields, in areas like education.”

Before Ma and his friends founded Alibaba in his apartment in Hangzhou, the billionaire philanthropist worked as an English teacher. Ma reportedly learned English by conversing with tourists during his youth.

In an interview, Ma said of his experience:

“What I learned from my teachers and books was different from what the foreign visitors told us. English helps me a lot. Makes me understand the world better, help me to meet the best CEOs and leaders in the world and makes me understand the distance between China and the world.”

Over the years, Ma has been vocal about his passion for education. In fact, his resignation date, September 10th, coincides China’s Teachers’s Day.

“Teachers always want their students to exceed them, so the responsible thing…  for me and the company to do is to let younger, more talented people take over in leadership roles,” Ma said last year.

Ma still holds 6.22 percent of Alibaba’s shares. He’s also a lifetime member of the Alibaba Partnership, an elite group of people who has the power to nominate Alibaba’s board members, a clear indication that he will continue to help shape the future of the company.

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