Silenced? Alibaba founder Jack Ma disappeared

He’s the founder of the Chinese online giant Alibaba, one of the richest people in the world, and he’s been eaten for weeks: Has Jack Ma been sidelined by the Communist Party?

Jack Ma’s last sign of life is full of pathos. “Every year 14 million children are born,” writes the founder of the Chinese online giant Alibaba on his official Weibo account, the Chinese counterpart of Twitter. “They are the most valuable resource in our country.”

Ma posted his message, along with a call for better training opportunities, on October 17 last year. Since then: radio silence.

Ma hasn’t been active on Twitter since October. The billionaire’s last tweet was dated October 10, making it even older than his Weibo post.

Did Ma just prescribe abstinence from social media, or is there something more to the businessman’s silence? In any case, speculation in the Western media has been sprouting for a few days. International observers fear that Jack Ma may have been a victim of the Communist Party and therefore disappeared, according to the tenor of the reports.

Was he wrong with the party?

There is no confirmation of these assumptions. But certainly evidence. In August, Ma announced via Twitter that he was eager to meet the finalists for his own casting show “Africa’s Business Heroes.” But then Ma was replaced as a juror on the show, allegedly due to scheduling problems.

Ma, who is the second richest Chinese after Tencent chief Ma Huateng, had apparently misjudged the state and party leadership around President Xi Jinping due to some critical comments. In early November, the planned record IPO of Alibaba’s financial subsidiary Ant Group came up short after intervention by Chinese supervisors. The “regulatory environment” has changed, according to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

However, according to a report by the “Wall Street Journal”, there are other reasons behind the stock market fiasco. Consequently, a speech by Ma, harshly criticizing local and global regulators, angered leaders in Beijing. Shortly before the end of the year, Chinese antitrust authorities launched an investigation against Alibaba for alleged violations of monopoly laws.

The disappearance of Jack Ma brings back memories of the disappearance of Chinese actress Fan Bingbing about two and a half years ago. The “X-Men” actress had disappeared from the public for several months until she addressed her fans via Weibo in early October 2018 and apologized for an alleged tax fraud. The career of the fans then came to a standstill.

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