Tycoon Jack Ma vows mega charity donation

People visit the stand of Alibaba during the 12th China Digital Entertainment Expo, also known as ChinaJoy 2014, in Shanghai,July 31. [Photo/IC]

Chinese tycoon and Alibaba founder Jack Ma has promised to donate a large share of his income to charity in a report released on Wednesday, The Beijing News reported.

He confirmed in writing to the company's board of directors that he will donate all of his distributions of Yunfeng Capital to the Alibaba Group Charitable Fund or other entities identified by him that serve charitable purposes. The Yunfeng Capital was a private equity fund co-founded by Ma in 2010.

Ma also promised that he will not claim any deductions from his applicable income tax obligations resulting from the donation.

Also, Ma said that he will reduce his direct and indirect economic interest in Ant Financial Services. As Alibaba's financial arm, Ant Financial is valued at US$60 billion after completing a US$4.5-billion financing round in April.

Ma made these commitments in Alibaba's annual report for the 2016 fiscal year. Alibaba estimated that the economic benefits Ma vowed to give up will amount to tens of billions of US dollars.

According to Forbes, Ma is the world's 33rd richest man with a net worth of $20.5 billion. In 2014, Ma and Alibaba’s vice-chairman Joe Tsai donated 2 percent of Alibaba's stock rights, accounting for 24.5 billion yuan calculated by concurrent share prices, becoming the largest single donation in China at the time.