Techtonic Shift: A BRIEF HISTORY OF COMPUTING AND THE WEB by Bagchi Sohini

Author:Bagchi, Sohini [Bagchi, Sohini]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2021-05-04T16:00:00+00:00

Jack Ma learnt of the internet when he went to the United States in the early 1990s. Unlike the United States, China still had not embraced the internet revolution. When Jack Ma returned, he decided to tap into the uncharted waters of the World Wide Web.

In 1999, a group of 18 people led by Jack Ma and with an initial investment of $5 million and 17 co founders, Jack Ma started online retail platform Alibaba in a small apartment in Hangzhou, China.

The launch of Alibaba’s online retail platforms – Alibaba. com (B2B) and 1688.com (B2C) – was fortunately timed; the consumer internet boom had only just arrived in China and the local market was not as direly affected by the dot-com crash as its American counterpart. Today, this wholesale online marketplace is the world’s largest e commerce platform, running on par with the likes of Google and Amazon.

With a funding of $ 21 billion from SoftBank, the 21st century began on a very positive note for this steadily rising ecommerce platform. Post this investment, the money kept pouring in. A year after this influx of cash, Alibaba launched Taobao.com, the Chinese version of eBay. Looking at the positive response received, Jack Ma ventured into other areas like an instant messaging tool called Aliwangwang and third party online payments platform Alipay.

Having secured a funding of $25 billion, Alibaba was declared the largest and the most profitable e commerce platform in the world by the year 2016. With a market value of $231 billion, there was no stopping this company.

The conglomerate has also been very active in shaping China’s entrepreneur ecosystem while launching several projects to better China’s rural areas. In 2010, Alibaba announced that it would contribute 0.3% of its annual revenue to environmental awareness and conservation efforts around the world – resulting in a $4.71 billion turnover.

Officially, he stepped down as Alibaba's chairman in 2018. He said he was going to focus on philanthropy. Jack Ma has also set up an independently funded group called the Alibaba Foundation that tackles social issues.

Thomas J. Watson Sr. (1874-1956) – Co-Founder IBM “To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.” - Thomas J. Watson Sr.

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