ALIBABA FOUNDER JACK MA ENDS MONTHSLONG SILENCE WITH BRIEF VIDEO

Wed 20 January 2021:

Jack Ma just made his first public appearance in months, ending a 2 1/2-month disappearance from public view that prompted speculation about his status and his business empire’s future.

The billionaire co-founder of Alibaba (BABA) resurfaced Wednesday in a video published online by Tianmu News, a subsidiary of the Zhejiang government’s official newspaper. Zhejiang province is home to Hangzhou, the city where Alibaba is based.

In the 50-second video, Ma congratulated teachers supported by his charitable foundation and made no mention of his absence from public view and scrutiny of his Alibaba Group and Ant Group by regulators.

The video appeared on Chinese business news and other websites.

Normally voluble and press-friendly, Ma was last seen in public after criticizing financial regulators in an Oct. 24 speech at a Shanghai conference. Days later, regulators suspended Ant’s planned multibillion-dollar stock market debut.

“Jack Ma participated in the online ceremony of the annual Rural Teacher Initiative
event on January 20,” a spokesperson for the Jack Ma Foundation said.

In October, Ma made some comments that appeared critical of China’s financial regulator.

It was one of the reasons attributed to Chinese regulators pulling the plug on what would have been a record-setting initial public offering of Ant Group, the financial technology giant Ma founded.

Since those comments, Ma had not been seen, leading to speculation he had gone missing. Chinese authorities have cracked down on Ma’s technology firms Alibaba and Ant Group.

In December, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation opened an investigation into Alibaba over monopolistic practices. Beijing is also finalizing details of a wide-sweeping anti-monopoly law.

Beijing is concerned about the power of its tech companies that have managed to grow, largely unencumbered, over the past few years and have become key parts of everyday life in China.