Martin Luther King Jr.
89% Profile Match
Photo: Ciaran McCrickard / World Economic Forum, 24 January 2018, CC BY 2.0, cropped and downscaled · Wikimedia Commons, 'Enabling eCommerce- Small Enterprises, Global Players (39008130265) (cropped).jpg' -- photograph by Ciaran McCrickard for the World Economic Forum, session 'Enabling eCommerce: Small Enterprises, Global Players', Davos, 24 January 2018, published on the World Economic Forum's Flickr account under CC BY 2.0 (licence reviewed on Commons by FlickreviewR 2); cropped file 1224 x 1630 pixels, downscaled to 901 x 1200. · CC BY 2.0
entrepreneur · Contemporary
Jack Ma
b. 1964
Known For
entrepreneurialtechnologicalcultural
Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.
Trait Constellation
Key Achievements
He founded Alibaba in 1999 in his Hangzhou apartment with 17 others, starting as a marketplace linking small Chinese exporters with global buyers.
He launched Taobao in 2003 as a free marketplace for consumers and Alipay's escrow payment service in 2004; eBay closed its China site in 2006.
By 2013 Alibaba was the largest online and mobile commerce company by gross merchandise volume according to IDC, and it listed in New York in September 2014 in what its early investor Eight Roads calls the world's biggest IPO.
Moments That Reveal Them
In October 2005 eBay said 'free' is not a business model about Taobao's no-fee strategy; three months later eBay dropped its own seller transaction fee in China while Taobao held a larger share of auction volume.
This is consistent with a competitor reading the market differently and a bet on growth ahead of fees that the market outcome favoured. Competitiveness
When the 2001 internet bubble burst, Alibaba cut costs and closed offices to survive, according to its early investor Eight Roads.
This is consistent with staying with the business through a downturn by cutting back rather than giving up. Persistence
Turning Points
In May 2003 he told his executives that Alibaba would launch Taobao, a consumer marketplace, widening the company from business-to-business trade to online shopping and a defence against eBay.
This is consistent with moving into a new market early to meet a feared competitor on its own ground. Opportunity Sensing
Similar People
People whose overall profiles resemble theirs.
Nelson Mandela
88% Profile Match
Wu Zetian
87% Profile Match
Elizabeth I of England
87% Profile Match
Aung San Suu Kyi
87% Profile Match
Elizabeth Blackwell
86% Profile Match
Opposite Profile
Not a rival — a different profile shape worth a look.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
10% Profile Match
Sources
- Jack Ma (Q1137062) -- verified live via the Wikidata API (2026-10-10): English label 'Jack Ma', description 'Chinese businessman', born 10 September 1964, no date of death, instance of human, citizenship China. Orientation only; not used as support for any row.
- Kelvin Chan (Associated Press), 'Alibaba IPO highlights impish founder Jack Ma's rise to China's entrepreneur-in-chief', 2014 -- wire profile written ahead of the New York listing: founding of China Pages and Alibaba, the Taobao launch against eBay, Ma's public style and his 2013 step-down as CEO, with comments from a former Alibaba marketing vice president. Passages about his early schooling, family and an episode in California known only from his own retelling were not used. Read in full.
- Sumner Lemon (IDG News Service), 'EBay China decides free is a business model', InfoWorld, 20 January 2006 -- trade-press report on eBay dropping its Chinese seller fee after calling Taobao's three-year no-fee strategy a non-business-model, with market-share figures from Analysys International and comment from an analyst and an Alibaba spokesman. Independent, contemporaneous. Read in full.
- Eight Roads, 'Alibaba: The story of a generation' (case study), Eight Roads Ventures website, undated -- early investor's account of its October 1999 Series A investment after a five-hour pitch at Ma's apartment, the 2001 cash retrenchment, the 2004 repurchase of Goldman Sachs' stake, and the Yahoo investment. Investor first-hand view, admiring and with a financial interest. Read in full.
- Alibaba Group Holding Limited, Amendment No. 5 to Form F-1 registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 27 August 2014 -- company history section (1999 founding in Ma's apartment by 18 founders, Taobao established in 2003 as a free platform, Alipay escrow in 2004, 2007 monetisation, Tmall, cloud and Singles Day figures) and the company's own description of its business. Company self-description; record facts only, used for chronology and business-model facts. Pages 77-79 and the business description were read; the risk-factor, structure and legal sections (variable interest entities, Alipay control) were not used as evidence.
- Jack Ma, closing keynote at the 'China 2.0: Transforming Media and Commerce' conference, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 30 September 2011, edited transcript with audience questions, The Singju Post -- his own account of the 1999 search for venture capital, the small-business strategy of Alibaba.com, Taobao against eBay, Alipay escrow, splitting Taobao and the Yahoo China acquisition. Self material; never sole support. The regulatory and ownership questions in the Q&A (VIE structures, Alipay licensing) were read but not used as evidence.
- Shahnaz Mouhamou, 'Digging For Treasure; How Taobao Won the ECOM Race', The Nanjinger, 13 May 2015 -- magazine feature built partly on a book excerpt about Ma's May 2003 announcement of Taobao to his executives, plus an account of eBay's market entry via EachNet, Taobao's free listings, TV advertising and instant-messaging feature. Sympathetic and secondary; used for corroboration only. Read in full.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Jack Ma' (Britannica Money), updated September 2026 -- reference biography of his career, Alipay, Taobao versus eBay, the Yahoo stake and the 2014 listing. Reference orientation only; not counted as a substantive behavioural source and not used as support for any row.