Jack ma where are you? Alibaba co-founder is Missing

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has reportedly gone missing for over two months following his controversial speech in October 2020.

The Chinese billionaire has not made any public appearance since November last year, with which the mystery around his whereabouts has only deepened.

Tongues started wagging when Ma didn’t appear within the final episode, aired in November, of his own talent show, ‘Africa’s Business Heroes’, which provides budding African entrepreneurs a chance to compete to win $1.5 million.

The 56-year-old beleaguered billionaire was then replaced by Lucy Peng, an Alibaba executive, to guage the show and consistent with the company’s spokesperson, Ma couldn’t make it due to his hectic schedule, the Financial Times reported.

However, his removal from the event’s webpage and a promotional video which aired without Ma raised many eyebrows. The deepening puzzle around his disappearance comes at a time when Chinese authorities have increased scrutiny of his business empire, including Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Group after Ma criticised China’s regulation system last October.

The billionaire, who is sort of media-savvy, has not made any public appearance since the suspension of ANT’s IPO. What could are an outstanding market debut for Ma’s ANT Group, ended up during a fracas after his virulent attack on the Chinese economic system .

Ma’s wrangle with China’s authoritarian regime is claimed to possess led to its crackdown down on his businesses.

Talking about the genesis of it all, the Chinese billionaire, during a speech on United Nations Day , critiqued China’s “pawnshop financial regulators and state-owned banks.” Calling for reform within the country’s regulatory system, Jack Ma blamed it for stifling business innovation and likened China’s global banking regulations to an “old people’s club.”

“Today’s economic system is that the legacy of the economic Age. We must found out a replacement one for subsequent generation and children . We must reform the present system,” he said within the speech. As per a report within the Wall Street Journal, officials in Beijing chided Ma and suspended ANT Group’s IPO on the direct order of President Xi in November.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that he was advised to stay in China following which an anti-monopoly probe was initiated in Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding on Christmas Eve .

The investigation led to the company’s shares drop in 1 / 4 since their peak soon after Ma’s October speech, wiping over $10 billion from his fortune. This resulted in him falling to 3rd place on the list of China’s richest people. Ma’s current net worth is estimated at $63.1 billion, consistent with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The Chinese regime also ordered ANT Group to reduce its operations, asking it to redress the company’s insurance, lending, and wealth management services.

Alibaba is potentially the world’s largest e-commerce company with billions of dollars in turnover and many users.

The e-commerce giant is Asia’s “most valuable corporation,” consistent with the press agency . Several other Chinese tech giants have also come under tight scrutiny of regulators, losing many billions of dollars in market price .

This article taken from businesstoday