DHAKA: He may now be China’s richest man, but Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, has admitted in a United States television interview that being so wealthy is actually causing him ‘great pain’.
Ma has seen his fortune balloon to US$19.5 billion after Alibaba’s record-breaking US$25 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in September, according to data compiled by Forbes magazine.
On Tuesday, the company chalked up a new record - US$9.3 billion of sales conducted through its platforms during China’s ‘Singles Day’ celebration, its 24-hour shopping promotion and the world’s biggest online retail event.
But a successful stock listing and vast fortunes have caused him stress, Ma said in an interview with US business news channel CNBC Tuesday.
‘This month I'm not very happy - I think too much pressure,’ he told the broadcaster.
‘Maybe the stock goes so up, maybe people have high expectations on you, maybe I think too much about the future and have too many things to worry about,’ he said.
Ma said that people often tell him that being rich ‘is good’ but admitted he found being the wealthiest man in China difficult.
‘Yeah, it is good, but not the richest man in China. It’s a great pain because when you're (the) richest person in the world, everybody (is) surrounding you for money,’ he told CNBC, reports The Straits Times.
He added that people now looked at him differently when he walked down the street and added, ‘Spending money is much more difficult than making money’.
BDST: 2017 HRS, NOV 12, 2014
