Chinese tech billionaire and Alibaba founder Jack Ma has disappeared from the public eye for more than two months after coming into conflict with the Central Communist Party government led by President Xi Jinping.
The business mogul was supposed to appear as a judge on the final episode of his own talent show, ‘Africa’s Business Heroes’, but mysteriously did not appear and as a result his photographs were removed from the show’s website. The Telegraph, UK, reported.
The ‘Africa’s Business Heroes’ program offers budding African entrepreneurs the opportunity to compete for a cut of $ 1.5 million.
Ma, one of China’s unusually vocal and outspoken moguls, flayed the CCP government’s ‘pawnshop’ financial regulators and state banks in an inflammatory speech in Shanghai in October. In addition, calling for reform of a system that “stifled business innovation”, he compared global banking regulations to a “seniors club.”
The speech angered the Chinese government, which saw Ma’s criticism as an attack on the authority of the Communist Party and led to its extraordinary crackdown on Ma’s business activities.
In November, officials in Beijing rebuked Ma and suspended his Ant Group’s $ 37 billion initial public offering on the direct order of President Jinping, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Ma was then recommended to remain in China before launching an antitrust investigation at his Alibaba Group Holding on Christmas Eve, according to Bloomberg. Beijing also ordered Ma’s fintech company Ant Group to downsize its operations.
“Due to a scheduling conflict, Mr. Ma was no longer able to be part of Africa’s Business Heroes final judging panel earlier this year (2020),” said an Alibaba spokesperson.
Ma is one of the richest men in China and his work for the UN and global charities in recent years has brought a softer touch to China’s global image.
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