Alibaba’s Jack Ma has a new venture selling pre-packaged food amid bets on agriculture since leaving e-commerce giant

‘Hangzhou Ma’s Kitchen Food’ has been set up in Alibaba’s home city amid a post-pandemic shift in eating habits, adding to Ma’s agriculture-focused endeavours

The billionaire plans to sell Alibaba shares to fund his new initiatives, but a plunge in stock price prompted Ma to hold off of the sale

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Amid a booming ready-meals industry in China, the country’s most recognisable entrepreneur has started a new venture in the space. Photo: Shutterstock

Ann Caoin Shanghai

Published: 11:00am, 26 Nov 2023

Alibaba Group Holding co-founder Jack Ma has started a new enterprise that sells pre-packaged food, corporate data shows, in a sign that the billionaire is branching out into areas leveraging his post-retirement focus on the agricultural sector.

The company, whose name translates to “Hangzhou Ma’s Kitchen Food” in English, was incorporated on Wednesday in Hangzhou, the hometown of Ma and his business empire, according to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, an official business registry information platform.

With registered capital of 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million), it is wholly owned by Hangzhou Dajingtou No 22 Arts and Culture, another of the entrepreneur’s ventures set up in 2019 for investment deals in China, in which Ma has 99.9 per cent of stake.

The scope of the company’s business extends to sales of pre-packaged food and the primary processing and retail of edible agricultural products, according to Ma’s Kitchen.

Jason Pau – executive director of international programmes at the Jack Ma Foundation, the billionaire’s philanthropic organisation established in 2014 – is listed as the company’s executive director and general manager. Xu Shi, another former executive at Ma’s foundation, is a supervisor for the new company, according to Chinese media reports, citing information from corporate registry data provider Tianyancha.

The Jack Ma Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Ma’s latest venture was interpreted by some to be a move into offering ready meals, an industry that has been booming in China as investors look to cash in on lifestyle changes during the pandemic. One Chinese media outlet said on Saturday that the company’s references to pre-packaged food do not refer to pre-cooked meals, citing a WeChat post of a former assistant to Ma.