Alibaba spends money on improving the products and services, not on kickbacks. That's a good thing. It's called a value system, and because of that, we get more and more small- to medium-sized companies to support us in China.
In the beginning I just wanted to survive. For the first three years, we made zero revenue. I remember many times when I was trying to pay up, the restaurant owner would say, 'Your bill was paid.' And there would be a note saying, 'Mr. Ma, I'm your customer on the Alibaba platform. I made a lot of money, and I know you don't, so I paid the bill.'
Nobody wanted to believe Jack Ma.
People think, 'Jack, you do too much.'
When I was 12 years old, I went to swim in a lake, and I almost died in that lake because the water was too deep - much deeper than I thought.
Spending money is much more difficult than making money.
If Alibaba cannot become a Microsoft or Wal-Mart, I will regret it for the rest of my life.
IBM, Microsoft, the profit they made was larger than the top four banks in China put together... But where did the money go?
Year 2008 wiped out $19.2 trillion in US income... What if the money was spent on the Midwest of the United States?
I respect Apple. It's a great company that changed the world, especially the mobile time.
Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.
Trust the young people; trust this generation's innovation. They're making things, changing innovation every day. And all the consumers are the same: they want new things, they want cheap things, they want good things, they want unique things. If we can create these kind of things for consumers, they will come.
I don't want people in China to have deep pockets but shallow minds.
As a company, we have to be very transparent. We are in a business very related to finance, and I want this company to last long, and I want this company to be audited by everyone.
I'm just a purist. What is important in my life is that I can do something that can influence many people and influence China's development. When I am myself, I am relaxed and happy and have a good result.
I don't want to be liked. I want to be respected.
I don't care about revenues.
A trade war would be a disaster for the world. It's very easy to slip into a trade war.
I want to change history, do something important in my life, and influence individuals like we have with millions of small businesses on Alibaba. Then they love and respect you because you made their life important.
I'm not a tech guy. I'm looking at the technology with the eyes of my customers, normal people's eyes.
