Alibaba Founder Jack Ma Buys $23 Mln Property In New York

(RTTNews) - e-commerce giant Alibaba's founder and China's richest man Jack Ma bought 28,100 acre Brandon Park in the Adirondack mountain region of New York for $22.975 million. The purchase is for conservation and will serve as an occasional personal retreat.

The property is environmentally rich with lakes, streams, ponds, a 2200-foot peak and forest cover. St. Regis river flows through the estate for nine miles. It has a hatchery for heritage strain of brook trout, horse barn, a private label maple-syrup unit, eight homes and several other structures.

The estate has been listed for sale since 2012, with a price tag of $28 million. It was earlier owned by Rockefellers and Du Ponts.

This is Ma's first major conservation investment outside China. The billionaire, keen in preserving Chinese natural resources, has created Sichuan Nature Conservation Foundation and currently serves as the chairman of the China board of the Nature Conservancy.