Eccentric Chinese billionaire dances to Michael Jackson

By Sophie Christie

Chinese business magnate and chief executive of Alibaba Group Jack Ma donned his dancing shoes last week to perform a Michael Jackson routine in front of 40,000 employees at the Alibaba 18th anniversary party.

Sitting on a motorcycle and wearing an outfit that closely resembles that worn by Jackson during his Dangerous World Tour, Ma danced along to a medley of Billie Jean and Dangerous.

Ma is the richest person in Asia with a net worth of US$38.8 billion (NZ$53.6b), according to Forbes. Thanks to his success and philanthropy, he is hugely popular in China and was ranked at number two in Fortune's 2017 "World's 50 Greatest Leaders" list.

Ma is no stranger to performing at Alibaba's annual parties. In 2009 the business tycoon wore a long blonde wig and sang along to the The Lion King soundtrack.

The businessman has much to celebrate, with the e-commerce site now the largest retailer in the world, surpassing Walmart in April 2016.

The company handles more transactions than Amazon and eBay combined and has more than 529 million monthly active mobile users across its platforms.

In the quarter to March 31 2017, the company's revenue was US$5.61b, an increase of 60 per cent year on year.