Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Jack Ma On 60 Minutes: The First Word I Searched Online Was 'Beer'

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) founder Jack Ma was on "60 Minutes" Sunday night, discussing his view of shareholders, his childhood and -- most surprisingly -- beer.

Ma revealed the beverage indirectly inspired him to join the e-commerce industry.

"I never touch keyboard before. I never [used a] computer before," Ma said, explaining how a conversation he once had with a friend turned into a tutorial for the Internet.

"And I say, 'What is Internet?' He say, 'Jack, you know, search whatever you want on the Internet.'...So, I typed the first word called 'beer.'"

Twitter reacted as expected:

Jack Ma: the first word I looked up on the Internet: beer $BABA

— Patricia Martell (@PatriciaMartell) September 29, 2014

The first thing Jack Ma ever did on the internet was search the word "beer." Funny, I had him pegged as more of a gin guy.

— Erin Gaetz (@ErinGaetz) September 29, 2014

Yep...Jack Ma got into the Internet business after he searched the word "beer" via @60Minutes $BABA

— Benzinga.com (@Benzinga) September 29, 2014

Ma went on: "At that time, very slow, come on the American beer, Japan beer and the German beer but not China beers. So, I was curious. And I type, 'China.' No China. No data.

"And I came back and I said, 'I want to do something called Internet.'"

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.