Jack Ma, 50, founded web giant Alibaba from his tiny flat in China
First saw the internet on a 1995 trip to Silicon Valley and was inspired
At a low ebb he was rejected for a job at KFC in Hangzhou
Today Alibaba floated on the New York Stock exchange in record IPO
Speaking from the trading floor, Ma revealed admiration for Forrest Gump
Said he watches Tom Hanks film in times of trouble to cheer him up
Ma is now estimated to have a fortune of $14billion
After his company's record-breaking entry into the U.S. stock market today, Alibaba founder Jack Ma has made it into the world's 100 richest men.
But before his stratospheric rise to wealth and power at the head of his company, an internet giant which dominates the Chinese online economy, Ma couldn't even make it into a chicken shop.
The 50-year-old entrepreneur who founded Alibaba with a group of 17 friends in 1999, had humble roots in the city of Hangzhou, eastern China, where he taught English in a local school.
Alibaba's Jack Ma arrives for historic debut
But, hoping to better his lot in the early 1990s he applied, and was turned down for, a slew of other jobs, including with a KFC in the city.
Ma's luck changed, however, when a job came up in 1995 which let him travel to the United States as a translator, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
IPOs are like a box of chocolates: Jack ma spoke admiringly of the dimwitted but determined Tom Hanks character Forrest Gump
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While there he caught his first sight of a computer linked to the internet - which began a chain of events which would lead to him joining the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos in the ranks of those made fabulously wealthy by new technology.
Ma has his ascent from ignominy to unimaginable wealth in common with another unlikely billionaire - the hapless film character Forrest Gump, whom he admits he often turns to in times of hardship.
In an interview the immediate aftermath of Alibaba's $22billion flotation, Ma cited Tom Hanks's dim but heroic character as a role model, saying Gump's triumphs over adversity had inspired him dozens of times.
Ma told CNBC: 'The hero I had is Forrest Gump - I really like that guy! I've been watching that movie for about ten times. Every time I get frustrated, I watch the movie.
'I watch the movie before I came here again for coming to the New York. I watched the movie again.
No matter what changes, you are you. I'm a stupid guy - fifteen years ago I only earned like $20 a month.'
He made the unusual comparison from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange today as his company's value charged towards its closing value of $93 per share.
Extrapolated to all of the company's shares, most of which were not put on the market today, Alibaba's value is just shy of $230billion, putting it just above Procter and Gamble on the NYSE, and just below JP Morgan Chase.
The online retailer smashed records with its offering - the largest in US history - and is now as valuable as Facebook after just one day on Wall Street.
The e-commerce powerhouse, which sells anything from fat suits to live animals, started the day valued more than Amazon and eBay at $168 billion, and sent tremors through the market as it floated stocks priced at $68 per share.
Shares quickly jumped to $98 once trading finally launched at 11.53am - after a delayed start due to an overwhelming influx of orders.
Now, the firm is worth $230 billion - more than Facebook - as stocks closed at $93, up 38 per cent.
But despite the huge hike in capital today, Ma has been known to cut a modest figure - the billionaire has even described his latest blast of wealth as a 'headache'.Frantic: Ma is pictured, just left of centre, at the New York Stock Exchange, where his company today raised billions of fresh capital
In an email leaked to Chinese media in July, as anticipation was building ahead of the IPO, Ma gave a message to his employees, many of whom will have been made very wealthy today because of their ownership of shares.
He said: 'We've worked so hard, but not for the sake of turning into a bunch of tuhao [a Chinese termmeaning 'uncouth, newly rich person - roughly equivalent to nouveaux riches'].
Instead, Ma has hoped that his employees will use the proceeds of the IPO to do good and enable more businesses to make money themselves.
A trading frenzy broke out after Alibaba hit the market, with more than 127 million shares were traded in the first 15 minutes of Alibaba's debut on the market.
One-man story: Ma founded Alibaba from his one-bedroom flat in China some 17 years ago
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The small firm is now being bombarded with business propositions - and there is even talk of an Amazon merger.
Contemplating the prospect today, Ma said: 'I would be interested in talking because as always, anything, anybody that involves helping small business we will feel excited.'
His own stake in the business is expected to be valued at $14billion - enough to put him in the 71st spot on Forbes' list of global billionaires, ahead of media mogul Rupert Murdoch ($13.5billion) and fashion designer Giorgio Armani ($9.9billion).
In 15 years the firm has risen from a start-up in an apartment 100 miles outside the city of Shanghai to become a juggernaut bigger than Hewlett Packard.
Alibaba is based in Hangzhou in Eastern China, Ma's hometown.
The company got started in 1999 when Ma and 17 friends developed a fledgling e-commerce company on the cusp of the Internet boom.
Ma, who founded the company in a one-bedroom apartment, will have a paper fortune worth some $14 billion, vaulting him into the ranks of tech billionaires like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
At an early age, Ma developed a desire to learn English so he rode his bike for 45 minutes each morning in order to go to a nearby hotel and converse with foreigners.
He would guide them around the city for free in order to practice and perfect his English.
He ws one of the first in china to learn how to design web sites.
Ma first started building websites for Chinese companies with the help of friends in the US.
WHAT IS ALIBABA?
Alibaba operates an online ecosystem that lets individuals and small businesses buy and sell.
It doesn't directly sell anything, compete with its merchants, or hold inventory.
It has been described as China's answer to eBay, but it actually handles more packages annually than eBay and Amazon combined.
Most of Alibaba's 279 million active buyers visit the sites at least once a month on smartphones and other mobile devices, making the company attractive to investors as computing shifts away from laptop and desktop machines.
Alibaba has come to power four-fifths of all online commerce conducted in China and has also branched out into areas such as e-payments and financial investment.
If Alibaba were a country, its GDP would be above Vietnam and just below New Zealand.
He has said that 'the day we got connected to the Web, I invited friends and TV people over to my house.'
Using his very slow dial-up connection: 'We waited three and a half hours and got half a page.... We drank, watched TV and played cards, waiting.
'But I was so proud. I proved (to my house guests that) the Internet existed.'
Alibaba has been described as China's answer to eBay, but it actually handles more packages annually than eBay and Amazon combined.
Investors hope a stake in the firm will give them exposure to China's rapid-growth internet sector.
The stock started trading on Friday under the ticker 'BABA' on the NYSE.
As part of the so-called roadshow, would-be investors heard a sales pitch that centered on Alibaba's strong revenue growth and seemingly endless possibilities for expansion.
Demand has been so high that the company raised its expected offering price to $66 to $68 per share from $60 to $66 per share on Monday, setting the stage for what was expected to be the biggest ever IPO. And it did not disappoint.
After a delayed start, American depository shares opened at $92.70 - and climbed up to $98 in minutes - the biggest IPO in US history.
Early predictions had shares slated to open at $80 to $83. But it was revised eight times due to high demand.
Let the games begin: Ma is pictured above striking the bell to signal the start of trading in Alibaba shares at the New York Stock Exchange - under the ticker BABA
The main reason investors appear breathless about the 15-year old Alibaba: It offers an investment vehicle that taps into China's burgeoning middle-class. Among the rich and famous: Ma's wealth has propelled him into the ranks of entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg
Alibaba's Taobao, TMall and other platforms account for some 80 percent of Chinese online commerce.
Most of Alibaba's 279 million active buyers visit the sites at least once a month on smartphones and other mobile devices, making the company attractive to investors as computing shifts away from laptop and desktop machines.
And the growth rate is not expected to mature anytime soon.
Online spending by Chinese shoppers is forecast to triple from its 2011 size by 2015. Beyond that, Alibaba has said it plans to expand into emerging markets and eventually, Europe and the U.S.
'There are very few companies that are this big, grow this fast, and are this profitable,' said Wedbush analyst Gil Luria.
THE WEIRD WORLD OF ALIBABA
The website, which aims to connect companies with wholesalers, is known for selling everything - including some strange offerings.
One company in particular, Zhongshan City Elephant Sculpture Art, is leading the way with its silicone-wax celebrity statues.
A popular piece is the life-size, obese statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The sculpture is completely naked, apart from shotgun and sunglasses, and it could be yours for £9,900 ($16,800).
In the event you need the services of a camel, then you can purchase 500 for around £350 ($600) each.
With many of the items bulk buy, your will need to order 24,000 pieces to get your hand on what is described as 'lovely used panties'.
In the event you need the services of a camel, then you can purchase 500 for around £350 ($600) each A popular piece is the life-size, obese statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The sculpture is completely naked, apart from shotgun and sunglasses and it could be yours for £9,900 ($16,800)
But if beauty products are more your thing, then Alibaba has some intriguing offers.
The female electric nose lifter, for instance, promises to give you a firmer, higher nose by zapping it with vibrations for just three minutes a day.
Not to be left out, there is also a wide array of male grooming product for sale.
Lovers of Apple products, who also happen to have an embarrassing ear wax problem, can get their hands on a Steve Jobs-banded ear cleaner tool set.
The pack contains eight items for ear cleaning and manicuring and is priced at 50p ($0.8) at a minimum order of 2,000 sets.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
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