Jack Ma disappeared without a trace from the public – E24

On October 24 last year, Jack Ma took the stage in Shanghai, where he spoke at a conference that was also attended by several of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.

In office, he came with fierce criticism of the authorities that regulate technological development in the country.

Subsequently, the Chinese authorities have taken several different measures against the billionaire’s companies:

In recent days, speculation about Jack Ma has started to mount. This after an article in the Financial Times where it was revealed that the billionaire has not been seen in public after the performance in Shanghai.

Talent contest

The article notes, among other things, that Ma did not participate as a judge in the final broadcast of her own talent show, when it was recorded in November.

Around the judging table in “Africa’s Business Heroes,” Ma was replaced in favor of Alibaba’s director, Lucy Peng.

An image of Ma was also said to have been removed from the competition’s website, which aims to highlight entrepreneurs who can receive large cash prizes from the billionaire’s fund. It was also not part of a promotional video released in November.

“Due to a scheduling conflict, Mr. Ma was unable to be part of the judging panel at the Africa’s Business Heroes final earlier this year,” an Alibaba spokesman told the newspaper.

Jack Ma has also not been active on Twitter since October 10. At the time, he was announcing a new environmental award that British Prince William and David Attenborough have founded.

– Make it clear that it is not bigger than the party.

Just before Christmas, Bloomberg mentioned the billionaire’s absence from the public eye. Sources with whom the news agency spoke stated that the authorities had asked him to remain in the country.

– The Communist Party is trying to make it clear that Ma is not bigger than the party. But they also want to show that China is a good place to do business, and that means the party must show that entrepreneurs can be successful, Chinese law professor Rana Mitter at the University of Oxford told Bloomberg.

Since its publication at the conference in October, the news agency estimates that Jack Mas’s fortune has fallen by more than $ 11 billion, equivalent to 93 billion crowns.