Jack Ma, China's richest man, was happier earning $12 a month than he is as a billionaire
But Ma was just as happy - perhaps even happier - when he was barely making any money right out of college.
After graduating in 1988, Ma worked as an English teacher at a local university in his hometown of Hangzhou, China. He only made $12 a month, according to the documentary about his life called "Crocodile in the Yangtze."
When speaking at a luncheon with the Economics Club of New York on Tuesday, Ma referred to this period as the "best life I had."
When you don't have much money, you know how to spend it, Ma explained. But once you become a billionaire, you have a lot of responsibility.
"If you have less than $1 million, you know how to spend the money," he said during Tuesday's speech. " [At] $1 billion, that's not your money...The money I have today is a responsibility. It's the trust of people on me."
Ma says he feels a need to spend his money "on behalf of the society."
"I spend it our way," he said. "It's a trust."
This isn't the first time Ma has spoken about the burden of being a billionaire. When speaking at a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, he referred to his days as an English teacher as "fantastic," according to CNN Money. He said anyone with $1 million is "lucky," but when you reach $10 million, "you've got troubles."
After Alibaba's IPO, he told CNBC that the pressure that comes with the responsibility gets to him, especially now that the world is focusing on Alibaba's stock price.
"IPO is great because ... I'm happy with the results," he said to CNBC. "But honestly, I think when people think too highly of you, you have the responsibility to calm down and be yourself."
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- Foreign tourist arrivals in India will cross pre-pandemic level in 2024
- Upcoming smartphones launching in India in May 2024
- Markets rebound in early trade amid global rally, buying in ICICI Bank and Reliance
- Women in Leadership
- Rupee declines 5 paise to 83.43 against US dollar in early trade