Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. set a new record in its $21.8 billion initial public offering.
The company’s debut has generated a lot of attention and unsurprisingly, Jack Ma, the founder of the company, has become a name that more and more people are becoming familiar with.
Ma now has a chance to completely transform China’s landscape by focusing on pressing social and environmental concerns.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said:
“They have 300 million people a week doing business on Alibaba. The chances of his being able to change China for the better are quite high.”
He added:
“Jack Ma has the chance to totally change the landscape now. This is an incredibly important moment in China.”
Ma and Clinton have met and spoken before. Clinton recently took a trip to Asia to oversee his philanthropic foundations efforts in the area, and Ma has been in contact with Clinton to learn more about how global-scale philanthropy operates.
Jack Ma founded the largest e-commerce company in the world.
Ma will be attending the Clinton Global Initiative. He is set to make a speech in a conference session on Sept 23 along with General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra – the same day Obama and Jim Yong Kim will make a speech too.
Clinton has said that Ma could use Alibaba’s success to help pave the way for Chinese philanthropy.
Clinton concluded:
“If he does it right he will also have a big empowering impact on other people who don’t have nearly as much money but they can make a difference.”