- Jack Ma, the
Chinese billionaire Currently under scrutiny by the Chinese government, he has apparently not been seen in public for several weeks. - Ma was scheduled to appear on the set of his own talent show, Africa’s Business Heroes, but was replaced by another
Alibaba executive. - Alibaba and Ant Group, founded by Ma, are currently facing an antitrust investigation for alleged monopolistic practices.
Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire currently under scrutiny by the Chinese government, has not been seen in public for several weeks. This has led to speculation that Ma might be missing.
According to recent reports, Ma was scheduled to appear in the filming of his own talent show, Africa’s Business Heroes, but was replaced by another Alibaba executive. The Chinese e-commerce giant told the Financial Times that Ma was unable to appear on the show due to a scheduling conflict.
Jack Ma’s whereabouts have come into question at a time when his companies, Alibaba and Ant Group, are increasingly under scrutiny in China. Alibaba and the Ant Group, founded and led by Ma, are currently facing an antitrust investigation for alleged monopolistic practices.
Chinese regulators have ordered Ant Group to reorganize parts of its business and return to its “origin of payments.” The reports also indicate that regulators had previously warned Alibaba about its practice in which “merchants must sign exclusive cooperative pacts that prevent them from offering products on rival platforms.”
And that was not all. In early November 2020, the Shanghai Stock Exchange suspended the $ 34 billion initial public offering (IPO) of Alibaba and Ant Group. Ant Group, which is touted as the world’s largest initial public offering, was scheduled for a double listing on November 5, on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges, and stopped in China with less than 48 hours to go.
Scrutiny fell on him after Ma publicly criticized Chinese regulators and called the country’s banks “pawn shops.” “Mortgages and guarantees are for a pawn shop, but if we go to extremes by relying solely on collateral assets, certain companies will pledge all of their assets, and the pressure [for them] it’s huge, ”he had said in October 2020.
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Ma, who was once labeled the richest man in Asia, has seen his net worth fall. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ma has lost more than $ 11 billion in the past three months, from highs of $ 61 billion in October 2020 to $ 50.6 billion today.
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From taking on Yahoo to being domesticated by the Communist Party of China, it’s been a rollercoaster decade for Jack Ma.
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