Jack Ma said KFC rejected him. Alibaba's IPO set a $25bn record.
Around 2003 he dared his biggest backer to walk away.
Ma was an English teacher in Hangzhou, China. In February 1999 he gathered 17 friends in his small apartment and had the meeting filmed, because he believed it would be historic. "Don't worry, I think the Internet dream will not die," he told them, Bloomberg reported in 2014. Goldman Sachs and Masayoshi Son's SoftBank invested soon after.
A few years later Ma wanted a shopping site for consumers to take on eBay. Most of his top executives were against it, Alibaba's president at the time told The New York Times. Ma called Son anyway: "We're going to do it with or without you." Son called back in five minutes and wanted in.
Taobao, Alibaba's new consumer site, opened in 2003 and Ma promised to keep it free for years. eBay answered in a press release: "Free is not a business model." On 19 September 2014 Alibaba Group sold its first shares to the public in New York, its IPO. With the banks' extra shares the sale reached $25 billion, a record at the time.
One-minute true story. AI-generated illustration with narration by an AI voice.
Would your board have backed the site after that phone call?
What the captions say
- This is the story of how Jack Ma, rejected by KFC in his telling, dared a billionaire to walk away, and sold a record $25 billion IPO.
- Around 2003, Ma's young company, Alibaba, wanted a shopping site for ordinary consumers, to take on eBay. Most of his top executives were against it, his president later recalled.
- So Ma called his biggest backer, Masayoshi Son of the Japanese investor SoftBank. By that account, Ma said: "We're going to do it with or without you."
- Son called back in five minutes and said: "I want in."
- The new site, Taobao, opened in 2003, and Ma vowed to keep it free for years. eBay replied in a press release: "Free is not a business model."
- Taobao later made its money through fees. In September 2014, Alibaba listed its shares in New York.
- The banks then sold extra shares, and the sale reached $25 billion, a world record at the time.
- It had all begun in February 1999, in a small apartment in Hangzhou, China, where Ma, an English teacher, filmed a meeting with 17 friends.
- "Don't worry," he told them on that tape, "I think the Internet dream will not die."
- Ma had shared a large chunk of the company with those 17 friends.
- On that tape, he had told them the reward would not be "this apartment, but 50 of these apartments."
