China's Richest Man Jack Ma Makes First Appearance Since October After Government Cracked Down On His Business

 

Alibaba Group founder and CEO, Jack Ma has made his first appearance since the Chinese government started cracking down on his business empire.
Suspicions about the whereabouts of China's richest man, were raised earlier this month, when he missed the recording of Africa's Business Heroes, a television show on which he was a judge.

Last month, China's central bank arrested executives from Ant Group, owned by Ma and ordered a major shake-up of the company's operations.
Before ordering the shakeup of the company, regulators had already stopped Ant Group's listing on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges.
The listing was supposed to bring in over $37billion to the company.
The shake up from the government came after Ma criticized the Chinese government over how it operated it's banking system at a public event in Shanghai in October.

 China's State Administration for Market Regulation announced an investigation into Alibaba over monopolistic practices.
But on Wednesday, January 20, Ma met 100 rural teachers in China via a video meeting on according to local Chinese media.
Ma addressed the teachers as part of one of his charity foundation's initiatives.
The annual event is usually hosted in the resort city of Sanya, but was held online this year because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Alibaba shares surged 5% on Hong Kong's stock exchange following the news.
"We cannot meet in Sanya due to the epidemic," he said in the speech.
"When the epidemic is over, we must find time to make up for everyone's trip to Sanya, and then we will meet again!"

In the speech, Ma praised China's poverty alleviation efforts, a central target of the Communist leadership, and vowed to dedicate more efforts towards helping rural teachers.
"My colleagues and I... are even more determined to devote ourselves to education and public welfare," he said, according to a transcript of his speech published by Chinese news site Tianmu News.
"China has... entered a new stage of development, and is moving towards common prosperity."
A spokesperson for the Jack Ma Foundation, his charitable arm, confirmed that Ma "participated in the online ceremony of the annual Rural Teacher Initiative event".
Shares in Alibaba were up 7% in Hong Kong by early afternoon Wednesday.

Since the Ant IPO was quashed, Chinese regulators have launched an anti-monopoly probe into Alibaba.
Both Alibaba and Ant said they will cooperate with regulatory requests.
Ma, a charismatic former teacher turned internet entrepreneur, retired as chairman of Alibaba in 2019 but has long attracted attention for his outspokenness and flamboyant antics, performing as a rockstar at company conferences.
The continued squeeze on one of China's most influential companies is the latest sign that the leadership is ready to deflate the ambitions of big tech firms in a runaway internet sector.

Beijing has a history of disappearing, investigating and imprisoning financial tycoons who do not toe the party line.

Last year, outspoken real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang was jailed for 18 years on alleged corruption charges, months after penning an essay critical of the Communist Party.null