A fascinating interview on CNBC with Alibaba chair Jack Ma, whose company will go public today in New York:
Ma said that shareholders come third. “Well, I think as always I believe that customer number one, employee number two, and shareholder number three,” he told CNBC, laying out his companies priorities.
“The hero I had is Forrest Gump,” said Ma in response to a question. “I like that guy. I’ve been watching that movie for about ten times. Every time I get frustrated, I watch the movie. I watch the movie before I came here again for coming to New York. I watched the movie again.
As for his new wealth — now larger than the GDP of Estonia, according to the CNBC hosts, it presents a “headache.”
“For me?” he responded, after being asked about his new wealth. “Well, this is a heady thing. I guess I’m going to — when I was, I think, 14 years ago I asked my wife, do you want your husband to be a rich man or a respected business guy? She said, of course, a respected business person, because she never thought I would be a rich person. … And then later I said before I’m 50 years old my job is making money, helping people make money. After I’m 50 years old, which is today 50 years old, I am spending money, trying to make sure more people get rich. Because you cannot spend a lot of money.”
He added, “This is a headache.”
