Alibaba aka Ant co-founder Jack Ma has finally made an appearance after months out of public view, quashing intense speculation about the plight of the billionaire grappling with escalating scrutiny over his internet empire.
On Wednesday, Jack Ma addressed scores of teachers on an online conference, part of an annual event the billionaire hosts to recognize the achievements of rural educators. His appearance, first reported in a local blog, was confirmed by people familiar with the matter.
Ma, who used to be an English teacher and founder of #Alibaba, also gives wishes to village teachers via a video on Wednesday, saying usually the activity is held in Sanya in southern Hainan but this year, due to #Covid19 it has to be done via video conference. pic.twitter.com/yfi7oPB5Sb
— Qingqing_Chen (@qingqingparis) January 20, 2021
Jack Ma’s appearance may stop the persistent rumours about his fate while Beijing continues investigations into online finance titan Ant Group Co and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The executive had kept out of public view since early November, when Chinese regulators ruined Ant’s $35 billion IPO, tightened fintech regulations, then ordered an overhaul of Ant and launched a separate antitrust probe into Alibaba — all in a span of days.
The attack on Ma’s trillion-dollar corporate empire encapsulates a broader campaign to rein in a generation of Chinese tech giants that Beijing now views as wielding too much control over the world’s no.2 economy. The flurry of actions against his twin companies drove home how Beijing has lost patience with the outsize power of its technology moguls, perceived now as a threat to the political and financial stability President Xi Jinping prizes most.
