Jack Ma

“My vision is to build an e-commerce ecosystem that allows consumers and businesses to do all aspects of business online.”

“When I was 12 years old, I got interested in learning English.”

“The world needs new leadership, but the new leadership is about working together.”

“Our philosophy is that we want to be an ecosystem. Our philosophy is to empower others to sell, empower others to service, making sure the other people are more powerful than us. With our technology, our innovation, our partners - 10 million small business sellers - they can compete with Microsoft and IBM.”

“I call Alibaba '1,001 mistakes.' We expanded too fast, and then in the dot-com bubble, we had to have layoffs. By 2002, we had only enough cash to survive for 18 months. We had a lot of free members using our site, and we didn't know how we'd make money. So we developed a product for China exporters to meet U.S. buyers online. This model saved us.”

“The more I come to know about the outside world's perception of China, the more I feel there are all sorts of misunderstandings, and to a certain extent, people do not get the full picture from the media. A lot of foreigners have few opportunities to visit China, and a lot of Chinese people do not have the chance to go to Europe or to the West.”

“The lessons I learned from the dark days at Alibaba are that you've got to make your team have value, innovation, and vision. Also, if you don't give up, you still have a chance. And, when you are small, you have to be very focused and rely on your brain, not your strength.”

“We should keep on going along the path of globalization. Globalization is good... when trade stops, war comes.”

“If you're doing business, not that simple to only buy. You have to create something. You have to create something that never exist for the future.”

“Trade is a communication of cultures and values.”

“Spending money is much more difficult than making money.”

“People say, 'Well you know the economy's bad, so China consumption will be low. No, totally different. You Americans love to spend tomorrow's money, and other people's money maybe... We Chinese love to save money.”

“As a company, we have to be very transparent. We are in a business very related to finance, and I want this company to last long, and I want this company to be audited by everyone.”

“Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.”

“Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds and when they grow up they will change the world.”

“The problem is the fake products today are of better quality and better price than the real names ... They are exactly the same factories, exactly the same raw materials but they do not use the names.”

“In 2001, we went to raise some $3 million in venture capital in the U.S. and got rejected. So we’ve come back and raised a little bit more: $25 billion. This is not money; this is trust from the world, trust from the people.”

“When you have one billion dollars, that's not your money. That's the trust the society gives [to] you.”

“You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.”

“I think that you, american people, worry too much about the China economy, [...] Every time you start to worry about the China economy, China goes better.”