The founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, Jack Ma, has resigned as president of the elite business school he developed. The action against the millionaire follows the Chinese government’s massive operation against the social media giant.
Recently, Jack Ma, who is also among the well-known entrepreneurs in China, was reported missing from public view since Alibaba was investigated and fined by regulators for allegedly committing a monopoly.
Hupan University has now changed its name and will restructure its curriculum. The university is an elite academy for Chinese business executives founded by Ma and established in his hometown of Hangzhou in 2015.
However, so far, the university and Alibaba have not reacted to the report. Since stepping down as head of Alibaba in 2019, Jack Ma, a former school teacher, has now undertaken a variety of charitable activities and educational projects.
Ma took the name Hupan, which means ‘lakeside’ from the apartment where he lived when he founded Alibaba in 1999. Lakeside Gardens was where the first 18 Alibaba employees worked together in the early days of the company. Ma has compared that experience to the Western practice of running a small business from a garage.
According to CNN, the university is also difficult to get into. Each applicant must have more than three years of entrepreneurial experience running a company with a minimum annual income of 30 million yuan ($ 4.7 million) and 30 employees. Even qualified candidates have to go through a rigorous interview. Its admission rate is 2.2% low, making it harder to get into than Harvard and Stanford.
Source: CNN, Financial Times