Jack Ma, the co-founder and chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba, paid $23 million for 28,100 acres in New York State's Adirondack Mountains that include a trout fishery, lakes, ponds, 40 miles of roads, a mountain and a maple-syrup operation.

Ma made the purchase in May and plans to turn the land into a conservation area and the "occasional personal retreat," The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The upstate estate is about 30 miles northwest of Lake Placid. and is known as Brandon Park. It was once owned by William Rockefeller Jr, co-founder of Standard Oil Co. In 1939, Brandon was acquired by the family of Wilhelmina du Pont Ross. Brandon was first listed for sale in 2012 with an asking price of $28 million. In 2014 the price was cut to $22.5 million. Ma's net worth is an estimated $23.9 billion, according to Forbes.

A non-profit entity will be formed to manage the property, and it will mark Ma's first purchase of conservation land outside China, Ma's spokesman Jim Wilkinson told the newspaper. As chairman of the China board of the Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organization, Ma has played an active role in conservation efforts in China.

Wilkinson told CNN that Ma was motivated to make the purchase by a desire to preserve the property.

"Protecting the environment in China will always be Jack's first and foremost priority and he will continue his strong efforts here," Wilkinson said. "This international land purchase reflects Jack's belief that we all inhabit the same planet and we all breathe the same air, so we are dependent on each other for our collective future.

aiheping@chinadailyusa.com