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Shares of the Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba, will be up for grabs today when the U.S. market opens. That's in about an hour or so from now.

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Priced at $68 a share, the stock has already made history as the largest IPO ever in the U.S.

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If underwriters choose to buy their allotted shares, Alibaba could become the world's largest IPO.

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The company [is] now valued at a whopping $168 billion, and that trumps fellow Internet retailer, Amazon.

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Well, when the bell starts ringing on the New York Stock Exchange day, Alibaba's war chest will get a lot bigger. It's already pretty big.

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Also, so does the wallet of the company's cofounder, Jack Ma.

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Jim Boulden now takes a look back at the entrepreneur's journey to success.

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Jack Ma says he tested his vision for his Internet site 15 years ago on the streets of San Francisco when he asked strangers if they knew the word "Alibaba."

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He got the answer he wanted: Alibaba and "Open, Sesame" -- the ability to gain access to all kinds of treasure.

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Today, Alibaba is China's Amazon, eBay and PayPal all in one, all started by this one-time English teacher.

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I am a 100 percent made in China.

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Jack Ma has not been under the radar.

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In 2005, the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader.

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Businessweek named him Businessperson of the Year in 2007.

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He was one of Time magazine's top 100 influential people in 2009.

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Ma may only be 49,

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but he's already done a Bill Gates and retired as CEO of the company he helped found, taking on the role of executive chairman.

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You know, the thing about Jack Ma and the thing about Alibaba is they're not... he's not particularly an inventor.

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What he's done is he's come in, used existing technologies and beat some people at their own game. So, that's really what his genius is.

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Estimates of his wealth vary widely.

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One ranks Ma as China's 29th-richest man at $4 billion.

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Forbes says number six at nearly $9 billion.

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Bloomberg has him third in China at nearly $13 billion.

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No matter, his ranking could greatly change by the price of the shares and options over the long run.

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You have to work very hard.

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He's also noted for his charitable endeavors.

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Ma has already established a charitable trust fund worth an estimated two percent of his share options of Alibaba,

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which could fund the trust north of $3 billion.

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With the rest of the money he and Alibaba raise from this IPO, expansion of the company is certainly on the cards.