Alibaba Founder Jack Ma Missing For 2 Months
Chinese tech billionaire and the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, has vanished from the public eye for over two months after a conflict with President Xi Jinping’s government.
Chinese tech billionaire and the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, has vanished from the public eye for over two months after he came into conflict with President Xi Jinping-led Central Communist Party government.
The Telegraph, UK reported that Jack Ma was to appear as a judge in the final episode of his own talent show, ‘Africa’s Business Heroes’, but mysteriously did not turn up for it and as a consequence, his photographs were removed from the show’s website.
An Alibaba spokesperson said, “Due to a schedule conflict Mr Ma could no longer be part of the finale judge panel of Africa’s Business Heroes earlier this year (2020).” .
Jack Ma has always been vocal and an outspoken tycoon. Jack Ma criticized the government's financial regulators and state-owned banks in an aggressive speech in Shanghai in October 2020. He also said that the financial systems need to be reformed.
The speech angered the Chinese government. The government felt that Jack Ma's criticisms were an attack on the authority of the Communist Party, and restricted Ma's business activities.
In November, officials in Beijing reprimanded Ma and suspended the $37billion initial public offering of his Ant Group IPO which was touted as the world's biggest public offering and was scheduled to be simultaneously listed on Shanghai and Hong Kong bourses on 5th November, was halted in less than 48 hours before going public on the direct order of President Jinping.
Ma was then advised to remain in China before launching an anti-monopoly investigation into his Alibaba Group Holding on Christmas Eve. Beijing also ordered Ma's financial tech company Ant Group to scale back its operations.
Ma is one of China’s wealthiest men and his work for the UN and global charity activities in recent years has brought a softer edge to China’s global image.
