Jack Ma has comfortably sat at the top of the Chinese entrepreneur food chain for many years. In October 2020, things changed. Credit: World Economic Forum / Sandra Blaser, Creative Commons
He is arguably the most successful businessman in Asia. Jack Ma built not one but two companies that topped $150 billion in market value — something only Elon Musk has done with Tesla and PayPal. And along the way, Ma (who Forbes estimates is worth $60 billion) also built a series of investment firms as well as a financial and entertainment empire that produces films, television programs, sells insurance and, several years ago, helped take control of one of the world's hottest mobile gaming startups, an Israel-based firm called Playtika.
While it's not clear Ma retains a stake in Playtika, one of his close business partners does. In this week's Big Picture, we look at the Jack Ma Empire and his network of longtime friends and business partners. It's an interesting group to watch at a time when Ma has disappeared from public view.
After he criticized financial regulators in a speech in Shanghai last October, Beijing canceled the initial public offering of his financial services
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Zhongguancun, a neighborhood in Beijing, has long been called 'China's Silicon Valley.' But after achieving remarkable success, Zhongguancun is now undergoing something of a makeover as China attempts to control what type of innovation happens there. Can Beijing reinvent Zhongguancun while still replicating its past success?
