Mr Ma has added US$25 billion to his
fortune this year riding a 54 per cent surge in the company's shares since its
September initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
At that scale, Alibaba is on the verge of
becoming one of the 10 most valuable companies in the world. Alibaba, whose
online marketplaces - Taobao and Tmall - had 307 million active buyers in China
as of September, saw revenue rise to 16.8 billion yuan (S$3.6 billion) between
July and September, according to Bloomberg
He may now be China's richest man,
but he has admitted in a United States television interview that being so
wealthy is actually causing him "great pain". "This month I'm not very happy -
I think too much pressure," he told the broadcaster. "Yeah, it is
good, but not the richest man in China. It's a great pain because when you're
(the) richest person in the world, everybody (is) surrounding you for
money," he told CNBC. He added that people now looked at him differently
when he walked down the street and added: "Spending money is much more
difficult than making money.
His remarks echoed what he told state
media in early October when he said being named China's richest man is
"meaningless". "My happiest days were when I used to earn 90
yuan (S$19) a month," Mr Ma once told state media. He is looking at the
possibility to establish a foundation to spend money "in a business
way" and may even compete with United States billionaire Bill Gates in the
field of philanthropy, according to CNBC.
Mr Ma was ranked as China's most
generous person after he donated a 1.4 per cent stake in his firm to set up a
charity focused on the environment, health care and education, according to a
survey by wealth publisher Hurun in late October .
Well as long as he is being generous to charity & hopefully cleaning up the environment , I would say keep on making the money Mr Ma :))
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