Jack Ma, the former English teacher who co-founded Alibaba Group Holding with US$60,000, is poised to become the world's 11th richest person after Ant Group priced shares for a record initial public offering .[HONG KONG] Jack Ma, the former English teacher who co-founded Alibaba Group Holding with US$60,000, is poised to become the world's 11th richest person after Ant Group priced shares for a record initial public offering .
Mr Ma's 8.8 per cent stake is worth US$27.4 billion based on the stock pricing in Hong Kong and Shanghai. That will take the 56-year-old's fortune to US$71.6 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, exceeding that of Oracle's Larry Ellison, L'Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and individual members of the Waltons, whose family own Walmart.
Ant's mammoth listing is poised to boost the fortunes of a group of early investors and employees. The company has granted staff share-based awards since 2014 and at least 18 other people have become billionaires from the IPO. Lucy Peng, a director at the payments giant through August, is the biggest individual Ant owner after Mr Ma, and has a US$5.2 billion stake. Chairman Eric Jing's holding is worth US$3.1 billion.
Ant is set to raise almost US$35 billion, beating Saudi Aramco's US$29 billion sale last year. The Shanghai stock priced at 68.8 yuan apiece and its Hong Kong shares at HK$80 (each. The company could raise another US$5.2 billion if it exercises its green shoe options, taking its market value to about US$320 billion. That would be more than JPMorgan Chase & Co and four times bigger than Goldman Sachs Group.