Success and reflection of Jack Ma and Son Jung-ui

Japan’s Softbank Chairman Son Jung-ui (59) and China’s Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma (52), two big shots of the IT industry, are close acquaintances. Son played a critical role in the "creation of miracle" by Alibaba. The person who bridged the two people is Jerry Yang, founder of Yahoo. Yang, who founded ‘Yahoo Japan’ with Son’s help, met with a tourist guide who was fluent in English at the Great Wall of China in 1997. It was Jack Ma.

Jerry Yang and Jack Ma are believed to have shared consensus about a bright future of the Internet market in their accidental first encounter. When Jack Ma was seeking investors after founding Alibaba in 1999, Yang introduced Son to Ma. Instantly figuring out huge potential, Son made decision to invest 20 million US dollars only six minutes into their meeting. As a result, Son became the majority stakeholder in Alibaba.

They are recently taking different paths, drawing keen attention from the public. At a business forum in Russia on Tuesday, Ma lamented his situation by saying, “Founding Alibaba is the biggest mistake in my life.” Citing his life full of tight schedules, Ma said, “If I am given a new life, I will not engage in business like this.” Son had openly declared "retirement at age 60," but just one year before his pledged retirement, he said, “I will continue to work as president for at least five to 10 years. Softbank is struggling amid huge debts since acquiring U.S. telecom company Sprint in 2013, and Son is believed to be renewing his commitment to address the debt problem and revive Sprint.

Does Ma really mean what he said, or is it just display of his self-confidence as someone who is superrich and successful? Korean netizens have sarcastically commented ‘they were remarks made by someone who has everything,’ and ‘The mistake is (his) greed that does not allow him to let go even if he wants.’ This may not be necessarily the case, however. Recalling the time when his wealth would increase 1 trillion won (867 million dollars) weekly due to surging stock prices, Son also remarked, “I got to lose my greed for money completely. Emotions such as hesitation or joy became zero.” Internet bubble burst soon after, and he said he instantly came to start worrying about lack of money after bragging, “I don’t need money.” Ordinary people thought of the two gurus as people who would have no one to envy in the world, since they have both money and success. But they seem to be in a situation where they cannot control their own fate despite their dominance in the Internet Empire.

고미석기자 mskoh119@donga.com