HONG KONG (AP) — When Jack Ma founded Alibaba 15 years ago he insisted the e-commerce venture should see itself as competing against Silicon Valley, not other Chinese companies. That bold ambition from a time when China was still a corporate backwater has been vindicated this week by Alibaba completing a mammoth sale of shares to investors in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Charismatic by the gray standards of Chinese CEOs, the elfin Ma is nicknamed “Crazy Jack” and is seen as China’s version of Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates. Ma used his entrepreneurial wits to build up an e-commerce giant in stark contrast to the state owned companies that became behemoths because of Communist Party policies and ties to the political elite.