Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma announces retirement

San Francisco: Alibaba co-founder and chief Jack Ma announced he will leave from the Chinese e-commerce giant Monday to devote his time to philanthropy focused on education.

Ma was an English teacher before starting Alibaba in 1999 and built it into a multibillion-dollar internet colossus.

His own worth has soared along with that of the company, which was valued at $420.8 billion based on its share price at the close of trading on Friday.

Ma told The New York Times that he plans to step down from the company, referring to his retirement as "the beginning of an era" rather than an end.