Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma announces retirement
New York, Sep 8 : Jack Ma, Alibabas co-founder and executive chairman, has said that he plans to step down from the Chinese e-commerce giant on Monday to pursue philanthropy in education, a changing of the guard for the $420 billion internet company.
In an exclusive New York Times interview, the Chinese billionaire said on Friday that his retirement was not the end of an era but "the beginning of an era".
"I love education," the Chinese billionaire said, adding that he would be spending more of his time and fortune focused on education.
A former English teacher, Ma co-founded Alibaba with 17 others out of his apartment in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in 1999.
He built it into one of the world's most consequential e-commerce and digital payments companies, transforming how Chinese people shop and pay for things which fueled his net worth to more than $40 billion, making him China's richest man.
Ma is revered by many Chinese, some of whom have put his portrait in their homes to worship in the same way that they worship the God of Wealth.
Ma will remain on Alibaba's board of directors and continue to mentor the company's management. He will turn 54 on Monday, which is also a holiday in China known as Teacher's Day.
The retirement makes Ma one of the first founders among a generation of prominent Chinese internet entrepreneurs to step down from their companies.
Firms including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and JD.com have flourished in recent years, growing to nearly rival American internet behemoths like Amazon and Google in their size, scope and ambition.
Last month, Alibaba reported a 60 per cent increase in quarterly sales, even as profits fell. The company's annual revenue totals about 250 billion yuan ($40 billion).
For Chinese tycoons to step aside in their 50s is rare; they usually remain at the top of their organisations for many years.
In an interview earlier this week, Ma had signaled that he was thinking about focusing more on philanthropy. He cited the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates as an example.
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Bihar has 41,000 centenarian voters, 143 are above 120 years
Patna(PTI): Bihar has a total of 7,80,22,933 electorate of which 41,000 are registered centenarian voters with more than 140 of them being over 120 years of age, according to the latest Election Commission data.
The total number of voters aged below 30 years is around 21 per cent while those over 80 years of age is about 2.06 per cent.
The data, shared by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar, here on Thursday shows, the state has 16,07,527 electorates who are in the age group from 80 years to 120 years and above.
While the total number of voters who are above 100 years in the state is 40,601 (male-17,445, female-23,153 and third gender-three), voters who are above 110 years are 247 (male-120 and female-127). The total number of voters above 120 years in the state is 143, according to the data.
The number of voters who are above 80 years is 1,28,2296 (male- 61,4673, female- 66,7614 and third gender-9), number of electorates who are above 90 years is 28,42,40 (male- 11,8213, female- 16,024 and third gender is three).
The total number of registered voters in the state has increased to 7,80,22,933 from 7,72,28,467.
The district where the maximum number of 80 years and above voters are registered is Vaishali with 3.05 per cent (82,758) of the total electorates, followed by Nalanda with 2.82 per cent (67,161), Lakhisarai with 2.71 per cent (21,118), Madhubani with 2.66 per cent (92,824), Patna with 2.60 per cent (13,514), Sitamarhi with 2.59 per cent (69,558), Banka with 2.52 per cent (39,436), Nawada with 2.31 per cent (43,511), Kaimur with 2.22 per cent (27,711) and Sheohar with 2.04 per cent (6,760).
With 38,174 voters (1.36 per cent of the total votes in the district), West Champaran has the lowest number of registered electors who are above 80, followed by Madhpura with 1.39 per cent (19,672), Saharsa with 1.44 per cent (20,840), Katihar with 1.49 per cent (33,321), East Champaran with 1.53 per cent (57,152), Muzaffarpur and Gopalganj with 1.70 per cent each (61,463 and 35,724 respectively) and Purnea with 1.73 per cent (40,189), according to the data of the ECI.
