Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma has been revealed as the country’s richest man as his e-commerce business Alibaba lines up for what is expected to be one of the biggest flotations in US corporate history.
The 49-year-old founder and chairman of the business is worth an estimated $21.8 billion (£13.2 billion), according to Bloomberg.
This includes his 7.3% stake in Alibaba and 50% stake in payment processor Alipay, which is similar to eBay’s Paypal.
The revelation comes as his business saw revenues jump 46% to $2.54 billion, in the three months to the end of June, putting it on course for a valuation of roughly $200 billion.
Alibaba is responsible for around 80% of all online retail sales in China, selling nearly $300 billion of goods in a year, potentially making it more valuable than Amazon and eBay.
Ma overtakes Ma Huateng, founder of online gaming site Tencent.
