After being missing from the public eye since November last year, Alibaba founder Jack Ma reappears in public terminating all ongoing theories about his location.
Jack Ma, with a net worth of $58.3 billion as of January 2021, the second-wealthiest man in China, had gone MIA after he delivered a controversial speech attacking China’s economic system in October. In his speech, he had criticized China’s regulation system saying that it was preventing innovation and was mediocre compared to international banking rules.
“Today’s financial system is the legacy of the Industrial Age. We must set up a new one for the next generation and young people,” he had remarked.
Also in October, ‘Ant Group’ (Ma’s financial group) was set to raise US$34.5 billion in the world’s largest-ever IPO, leading which the company would have been valued at $313 billion. Just a day before the IPO was to go public, it was suspended by the Chinese Government and even stricter regulations were placed over it.
On Wednesday, he was reported by a local newspaper addressing teachers in an online conference, a part of an annual event hosted by Jack Ma in recognition of the distinctions of rural educators which are awarded. The Alibaba share price listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange responded by shooting up 8.5%
China has a long history of missing, under investigation, and jailed industrialists who have been very outspoken and dared to criticize China’s policies and fail to stay in the party’s good books. This massive shutdown of the Ant Group IPO is proof that the Chinese Party can without fail silence any level criticism; be it from a common man, or a tech giant.
