Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma attacked online for not donating money to victims of Tianjin blast

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Alibaba founder Jack Ma Yun has been criticised online for not donating to help the victims of the Tianjin explosion. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:00pm, 17 Aug 2015Updated: 3:58pm, 17 Aug 2015

China's second richest man, Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma Yun, has come under fire online for not donating money following an explosion in Tianjin last week that killed more than 100 people.

Chinese business leaders and celebrities have rallied to donate money to support the rescue efforts. Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan was among the first to donate, pledging 3 million yuan (US$468,000) the day after the disaster. Richard Liu Qiangdong, founder and chief executive of Alibaba-rival JD.com, also donated 10 million yuan on Sunday.

After it was pointed out online that Ma had not announced any intention to donate money, his Weibo account was flooded by tens of thousands of critical comments.

"If you don't donate, I will stop shopping on Taobao," one commenter wrote.

"You threw away more than 1 billion yuan to buy a villa in Hong Kong, why not spend a few hundred million yuan for Tianjin victims," another said, referring to Ma's reported purchase of 22 Barker Road.

While some denounced those who criticised Ma, saying he had the right to decide where his own money went, the majority of comments called for him to donate.

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