With mega Ant IPO, Jack Ma becomes richer than Walmart heirs

Jack Ma, the former English teacher who co-founded Alibaba Group Holding Ltd with $60,000, is poised to become the world’s 11th richest person after Ant Group Co. priced shares for a record initial public offering.

Ma’s 8.8% stake is worth $27.4 billion based on the stock pricing in Hong Kong and Shanghai. That will take the 56-year-old’s fortune to $71.1 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, exceeding that of Oracle Corp.’s Larry Ellison, L’Oreal SA heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and individual members of the Waltons, whose family own Walmart Inc.

Ant’s mammoth listing is poised to boost the fortunes of a group of early investors and employees. The company has granted staff share-based awards since 2014 and at least 18 other people have become billionaires from the IPO.