Jack Ma is one of the richest people in China with an estimated fortune of over 200 billion yuan, but few people know that he struggled to get into college. He took the college entrance exam three times to pass, and got a 1 in math on his first attempt.
Jack Ma (Ma Yun) was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, on September 10, 1964. Jack Ma's grandfather named his grandson Ma Yun in the hope that he would know how to advance and retreat appropriately in life, and that he would not cause any trouble in the future.
Jack Ma (second from left) as a student.
Ma Yun loved English since he was a child. When he was 12, his family bought him a pocket radio. Since then, Ma Yun has listened to English radio every day without getting bored.
Time passed and it was time for Ma Yun to take the university entrance exam, but his first math score was only 1 point. However, he did not give up hope and took the university entrance exam a second time. This time his math score was 19/100, but it was still not enough to get into university.
Undaunted, Ma Yun continued to study for the exam. During this time, he also found a part-time job to earn money to support his life.
It was not until his third attempt at college entrance exams that Ma Yun scored 79 points in Mathematics and was admitted to the Hangzhou Normal University's Business Foreign Languages major. The future billionaire graduated with a bachelor's degree in English in 1988.
Struggling to find a job
After graduating from university, Jack Ma's path to finding a job was just as difficult as his university entrance exam.
Ma Yun applied for more than 30 different jobs, but was rejected by all of them. "I once applied to work in the police force, but they said I was not qualified for the job. I also went to a newly opened KFC branch. Out of 24 people who applied, 23 were accepted, and I was the only one rejected," he confided.
Jack Ma also applied 10 times to Harvard University and was rejected every time.
In April 1995, Ma Yun, his wife and a friend pooled $20,000 to start their first company. Their company, China Pages, specialized in designing websites for businesses, corporations and groups. Within three years, the company earned 5,000,000 yuan (about more than 17 billion VND).
With his will and constant efforts, Jack Ma became one of the richest billionaires in China.
In 1999, in an apartment in Hangzhou, he and 17 friends founded Alibaba with $60,000. Jack Ma is also the founder of Taobao, Alipay and has shares in famous entertainment companies such as Huayi Brothers.
In 2005, Jack Ma was voted "Entrepreneur of the Year" by "Business Week" magazine and was included in the list of "25 most powerful businessmen in Asia".
In 2009, he was included in Time magazine's list of "100 most influential people in the world". Forbes magazine named him the 30th most powerful man in the world in 2014.
Today, Jack Ma owns the giant Alibaba Group, owns assets worth 24.4 billion USD and ranks 6th on the list of China's richest billionaires as of December 2023.
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