The multibillion-dollar house that Jack built

First bricks of the extraordinary Alibaba empire were laid in an apartment 14 years ago by a non-technical genius with a vision

The Chinese Internet tycoon Jack Ma once said he wants his self-made Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to last 102 years so the e-commerce company, founded in his apartment in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in 1999, will still be around in 2101, meaning it will have spanned three centuries.

It is way too early to predict whether Ma's wish will come true, but at least one thing is not in doubt: Alibaba is a fabulously successful company, and as its 15th birthday nears, it finds itself in possession of more than 90 percent of China's online retail market. Recently it filed for what may become one of the largest initial public offerings in the United States.