Is Jack Ma missing? Rumors sparks as Alibaba Group founder not seen in public for weeks!
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Beijing, Jan 4: Chinese business tycoon and Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma, who is under scrutiny from the Chinese government, has reportedly not been seen in public for nearly two months. The business tycoon has also not be present on social media with the last post on Twitter being uploaded on October 10.
The speculations intensified when Ma was recently replaced as a judge in the final episode of his own show, Africa's Business Heroes. His photograph was removed from the judging webpage, and he was conspicuously left out of a promotional video. Besides, he has not made a public appearance since Ant's initial public offer (IPO) was suspended in November. He was advised not to leave the country by the Chinese government.
I am honored to partner with HRH The Duke of Cambridge @KensingtonRoyal & other global leaders and organizations to support the @EarthshotPrize and tackle the environmental challenges we all face. Together, we can protect our planet from climate change! https://t.co/0ax1imIZMC pic.twitter.com/EN6yissNGI
— Jack Ma (@JackMa) October 10, 2020
Jack Ma’s absence has come under question at a time when two of his companies – Alibaba and Ant – have come under the scrutiny of China’s market watchdog over an antitrust investigation.
This comes as when the final of the show took place in November, Ma made a candid speech criticizing China’s regulators and its state-owned banks. This made the Chinese regulators raising campaign against Alibaba and its associated organizations.
China’s market watchdog had last month launched an investigation into alleged anti-competition practices by the e-commerce firm Alibaba, and also laid out a “rectification plan” for Jack Ma’s fintech venture Ant Group. A TechCrunch report at end of December said that People’s Bank of China had summoned Ant Group for regulatory talks on December 26. It had informed a plan for the fintech firm to rectify its regulatory violations.