In China, Philanthropy as a New Measuring Stick

HONG KONG, September 22, 2009, The New York Times — As the 10th anniversary of his company approached this month, Jack Ma sat down and penned a note to his 15,000 employees at Alibaba Group. The chief executive reflected briefly on the success of his enterprise, which in a decade has become an e-commerce juggernaut with more than 100 million users and has vaulted him into the ranks of China’s ultrarich. But the bulk of his message concerned another theme: philanthropy.