--- description: The Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation have prepared 500,000 testing kits and 1 million masks to be sent to the U.S. title: Alibaba's Jack Ma Sends Boxes of Coronavirus Test Kits and Masks to U.S. image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07f205ba412ebf2a/698a0b9886f68e3a7a6ee786/jack-ma-coronavirus.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [COVID-19](/tag/covid-19/) ## COVID-19 Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Alibaba's Jack Ma Sends Boxes of Coronavirus Test Kits and Masks to U.S. by [Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 16, 2020 11:40 AM CUT  Chairman of Alibaba Group Jack Ma arrives to attend the "Tech for Good" Summit at "Hotel de Marigny" on May 15, 2019 in Paris, France. Chairman of Alibaba Group Jack Ma arrives to attend the "Tech for Good" Summit at "Hotel de Marigny" on May 15, 2019 in Paris, France.Getty Images—2019 Chesnot by [Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 16, 2020 11:40 AM CUT (Bloomberg) — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder Jack Ma has joined Twitter. In his first tweet, Ma posted photos of a China Eastern Airlines plane with boxes of coronavirus test kits and face masks slated to be shipped and donated to the U.S. from Shanghai. “All the best to our friends in America,” he wrote, which garnered more than 3,500 retweets and 20,000 likes in the first hour after posting. He describes himself as a “teacher, philanthropist, entrepreneur” in his newly created profile, which topped 10,000 followers in an hour. Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey retweeted Ma’s post, welcoming him to the platform. Ma is now the wealthiest person in Asia, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation on Friday [announced](https://twitter.com/foundation%5Fma/status/1238317660871393280?s=20 "undefined") that they have prepared 500,000 testing kits and 1 million masks to be sent to the U.S., adding to those already donated to other impacted countries including Japan, South Korea, Italy, Iran and Spain. “Drawing from my own country’s experience, speedy and accurate testing and adequate personal protective equipment for medical professionals are most effective in preventing the spread of the virus,” Ma said in the statement, urging people to “eliminate boundaries to sources” and share “hard-earned lessons.” Ma had previously [announced](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-30/jack-ma-joins-tech-moguls-pledging-to-help-fight-coronavirus "undefined") on his Weibo account that he would donate 100 million yuan ($14.5 million) through his foundation to support medical research efforts and disease prevention. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5803791/jack-ma-alibaba-coronavirus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5803791/jack-ma-alibaba-coronavirus/"},"headline":"Alibaba's Jack Ma Sends Boxes of Coronavirus Test Kits and Masks to U.S.","datePublished":"2020-03-16T11:40:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:52:16.493Z","description":"'All the best to our friends in America'","url":"https://time.com/5803791/jack-ma-alibaba-coronavirus/","keywords":["COVID-19","Tech","UnitedWeRise20Disaster"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07f205ba412ebf2a/698a0b9886f68e3a7a6ee786/jack-ma-coronavirus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07f205ba412ebf2a/698a0b9886f68e3a7a6ee786/jack-ma-coronavirus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jack Ma Coronavirus","caption":"Jack Ma Coronavirus","creditText":"Getty Images—2019 Chesnot","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5803791/jack-ma-alibaba-coronavirus/","name":"Alibaba's Jack Ma Sends Boxes of Coronavirus Test Kits and Masks to U.S."}}]}] ```