Jack Ma: Is there a single family office?

Where does the fortune of Jack Ma come from?

Jack Ma is a Chinese business tycoon, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate specialising in e-commerce, retail and the Internet. The company provides C2C, B2C and B2B sales services via web portals, as well as electronic payment services, shopping search engines and cloud computing services. It owns and operates a diverse portfolio of businesses around the world in a wide range of industries. Its $25 billion IPO in 2014 was then the largest IPO in world history, contributing to Jack Ma’s estimated net worth of over $28, making him one of the richest people in China after businessmen like  Zhong Shanshan and Ma Huateng.

Update: After criticising the Chinese government, Ma disappeared for a while in 2020. His company also struggled during this time. However, he reappeared on the scene at the beginning of 2025 and was apparently rehabilitated by the Chinese president, who needs Chinese entrepreneurs and their help in the economic competition against the USA

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How did Ma’s company Alibaba Group develop?

In 1999, Jack Ma and 17 friends and students founded Alibaba.com, a China-based B2B marketplace site, in his apartment. In October 1999, Alibaba received a $25 million investment from Goldman Sachs and SoftBank. Alibaba.com was expected to improve the domestic e-commerce market and perfect an e-commerce platform for Chinese companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to help export Chinese products to the global market. In 2002, Alibaba.com became profitable three years after its launch. Jack Ma wanted to improve the global e-commerce system, so in 2003 Alibaba launched Taobao Marketplace (“Chinese eBay”), Alipay, Alimama.com and Lynx. The group has continued to expand its business through various acquisitions and venture capital investments (e.g. Lyft). In 2014, Alibaba went public, securing $25 billion in new funding and valuing the company at $230 billion. Today, the company employs more than 200,000 people and has revenues of $130 billion.

Is there a Jack Ma family office?

Yes. Given Alibaba’s and Jack Ma’s role in venture capital investments, it’s not surprising that Jack Ma has not one but two family offices. Together with David Yu, Jack Ma owns YF Capital (based in Shanghai). Blue Pool Capital is an investment firm and single family office of Joe Tsai and Jack Ma (based in Hong Kong).

How does the Jack Ma family office invest?

Blue Pool Capital has a strong focus on venture capital investments. Areas of interest include healthcare, internet, technology and platforms. Examples of investments include Brii Biosciences and Grail. YF Capital also focuses on venture capital in the areas of internet, technology, healthcare, entertainment, finance and logistics, but also looks for private equity investment opportunities. Its portfolio includes Ant Financial and Cainiao. Both single family offices invest their capital directly as well as through funds.

This article is part of our detailed report “The Single Family Offices of Asian Billionaires and HNWIs“.

Picture source: Card Mapr NL