U.S. President Barack Obama gestures as he talks to Alibaba CEO Jack Ma during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Manila, Philippines, on Nov. 18, 2015. (Photo : Getty Images)
Aside from the fact that this man runs a company that earned more than $3 billion barely two months ago, he rubs elbows not only with the VIPs in his country but more so with very, very important people from around the globe.
Jack Ma serves as the chairman of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, which he founded in 1999 and went public on the New York Stock Exchange in the U.S. in Sept. 2014.
According to Alibaba’s website, it gained 24.2 billion yuan (more than $3 billion) in total revenue as of March 31, 2016.
The Straits Times reported that as of 2016, the value of Ma’s Hangzhou-based company could be more than $300 billion.
The 51-year-old former English teacher, born Ma Yun in Zhejiang Province’s capital city of Hangzhou, has a net worth of $23.2 billion as of June this year, according to Forbes.
As these figures prove to be astounding, the list of the people Ma gets to interact with fairly impresses.
China Daily enumerated the who’s who in Ma’s recent trips.
King Philippe lunched with Ma at the 17th-century old Royal Palace of Laeken, the official residence of the King of the Belgians and the royal family in Brussels, Belgium, on May 23, 2016. The 56-year-old monarch likewise held a party for him.
A few days earlier, in another continent, Ma dined with someone who also wields power of royal proportions.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Ma discussed matters, albeit the details were not revealed to the public, over lunch at the White House on May 17, 2016.
If throngs of reporters would want to score an interview with the American president, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit hosted by Manila, Philippines, on Nov. 2015, Ma sat next to Obama and answered questions thrown by the president.
John Phillip Key, New Zealand’s prime minister, conversed with Ma when the former was in Beijing on April 18, 2016. Alibaba and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise entered into an agreement for strategic cooperation.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, perhaps thinking Ma should not miss the world’s largest wine fair, invited him at the prestigious Vinitaly in Verona, Italy, on April 11, 2016.
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, shared a moment with Ma to discuss climate change during the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris, France, on Dec. 5, 2015.
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands brought up business matters to Ma at the Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou on Oct. 29, 2015.
David Cameron, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, sought the advice of Ma regarding--what else?--business on Oct. 19, 2015. President Xi Jinping made a state visit in the U.K. from Oct. 19-23, 2015.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton exchanged views at the Clinton Global Initiative 2015 Annual Meeting in New York on Sept. 29, 2015.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ma sat near each other during a panel discussion at the 19th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 19, 2015.
Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi of India exchanged handshakes with Ma on March 30, 2015 during the latter’s second visit to India.
