In order to retire at the age of 55, disengaging ‘sitting on the beach’, Jack Ma owned a secret money printer, which made him constantly richer even without doing anything.

At Alibaba's grand birthday party last month, founder Jack Ma took to the stage, hugged a guitar and performed the song You Raise Me Up.

The show in front of thousands of Alibaba employees is also to mark the time Jack Ma officially announced his retirement, leaving the company worth $ 450 billion founded.

This decision means that from here on, Jack Ma will receive less remuneration. However, like many other members of the Chinese tech billionaire class, he owns a family-owned investment firm, a money-printing machine that is the common formula for creating wealth. Giant for the richest people on the planet.

Blue Pool Capital was founded in 2015 after Alibaba was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. According to the FT, the company currently manages $ 40 billion of assets for the Jack Ma family and about $ 10 billion of the former chairman of Alibaba, and the right-hand man of Jack Ma Joe Tsai. . The main task of this company is nothing more than to help "money to make money", to keep them multiplying.

It is known that the staff of Blue Pool Capital are carefully recruited, who have long experience working in other family offices.

In the wave of strong investment last year, Blue Pool has continuously poured money into Fog Pharma and Rent the Runway – a design clothing hire service.

However, the acquisition of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team made the most attention. The $ 2.3 billion deal made through Blue Pool makes it the biggest sports team deal in history.

The Financial Times identified Blue Pool as the largest private equity firm among tycoons in the world.

Typically, this type of investment company will have a close relationship with the family of tycoons. According to many managers, Jack Ma's wife, Kathy, is also involved in the money Jack Ma has, including private investment fund Yunfeng Capital.

There are some similarities with US private investment companies, where the first generation of billionaires set up the family office years ago. The connection between Chinese tech billionaires and their money management units is similar to the way Iconiq Capital and its customers do. Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg are Iconiq customers who have invested in many companies including Uber and Restaurant 365.

The most notable case is Cascade Investment, a company that manages the wealth and personal assets of billionaire Bill Gates.

Based in Kirkland, Washington, Cascade evades the media attention. They declined to comment on business strategies but silently made a series of investments around the world and had a variety of asset classes.

The company's top five investments include: Shares in Canadian national rail company, Repuclic Service, garbage disposal company, Ecolab, Femsa beverage company and Deere – a manufacturer of agricultural machinery.

Cascade also owns stakes in many real estate and non-tech companies. They hold about 4% at Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, own 47% of the Four Seasons Hotel and 6% of the shares in Bunzl – a distribution and outsourcing corporation. In August, the company also bought a 9.8% stake in Strategic Hotels and Resort.