Alibaba’s co-founder and chairman, Jack Ma to retire at 54

Alibaba’s charismatic co-founder and chairman Jack Ma plans to retire from the Chinese e-commerce giant on Monday to devote his time to philanthropy focused on education, he told the New York Times in an interview.

Ma was an English teacher before starting Alibaba in 1999 and built it into a multibillion-dollar internet colossus, becoming one of the world’s richest men and a revered figure in his homeland.

His own worth has soared along with that of the company, which has added cloud computing, films and e-payments to its growing portfolio and was valued at $420.8 billion when the stock market closed on Friday.

Ma told The New York Times that he plans to step down from the company on Monday -- his 54th birthday -- referring to his departure as “the beginning of an era” rather than an end.