Joe Tsai, now a billionaire investor and co-founder of Alibaba Group, once admitted that his first exposure to Jack Ma’s vision for the company was anything but clear—but he backed the idea anyway.
A Startup With No Revenue and No Incorporation
In a conversation posted on Stanford Graduate School of Business’ YouTube channel in February, Tsai recalled meeting Ma in 1999 when Alibaba was still in its infancy.
At the time, the company wasn’t even officially incorporated, had no revenue and existed largely as an idea built around a simple website and a domain name.
“It was not only zero revenue. Jack didn’t even have a company,” Tsai said, describing how early the venture really was.
The Pitch That Didn’t Fully Make Sense
Ma’s concept—an online wholesale marketplace connecting Chinese manufacturers with global buyers—was novel at a time when the internet itself was still new.
Tsai admitted the idea was difficult to grasp.
“I couldn’t understand the business plan,” said Tsai, who was part of the early conversation, reflecting how abstract the model seemed in the late 1990s.
Despite the confusion, Tsai was struck by Ma’s personality and vision. He described Ma as charismatic and an effective communicator with a teacher-like ability to identify and develop talent.
Betting on Leadership Over the Idea
Tsai said his decision to join Alibaba was ultimately driven less by the business model and more by Ma’s leadership qualities and the environment he built.
“Jack was both a friend, a business partner and also a mentor,” Tsai explained, adding that he believed he could learn from him and grow alongside the team.
At the time, the startup culture was so raw that employees reportedly slept in Ma’s apartment, with toothbrushes lined up in the bathroom—a detail Tsai still remembers vividly.
Alibaba’s Rise From Startup Funding To Global Tech Giant
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Tsai’s net worth is currently estimated at $10.3 billion.
Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Ma along with 17 co-founders as a platform connecting Chinese exporters with global buyers.
In January 2000, the company secured $20 million in funding from an investor group led by SoftBank.
Five years later, Yahoo invested $1 billion for a 40% stake, becoming Alibaba’s largest shareholder and taking control of Yahoo China in the process. However, Alibaba later bought back half of Yahoo’s stake in 2012 for $7.6 billion.
Before its eventual U.S. listing, Alibaba also went public in Hong Kong, raising HK$13.1 billion.
The company was later delisted from the Hong Kong exchange in 2012, paying $2.45 billion to go private ahead of its broader restructuring and global expansion plans.
Today, Alibaba has grown into one of the world’s most valuable technology companies, with a market capitalization of about $339.32 billion.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO on Shutterstock.com
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