Chinese tycoon Ma ends absence with video
BEIJING—China’ s highest-profile entrepreneur, Jack Ma, appeared Wednesday in an online video, ending a 2 ½ -month absence from public view that prompted speculation about the future of the e-commerce billionaire and his Alibaba Group.
In the 50-second video, Ma congratulated teachers supported by his foundation and made no mention of his disappearance or official efforts to tighten control over Alibaba and other internet companies over the past six months. The video appeared on Chinese business news and other websites.
The normally voluble Ma disappeared from public view after he irked regulators by criticizing them in an speech Oct. 24 at a Shanghai conference. Days later, regulators suspended the planned multibillion-dollar stock market debut of Ant Group, a financial platform that grew out of Ali bab a’ s payments service, Alipay.
That prompted speculation online about whether the 56-year-old Ma, China’s biggest global business celebrity and a symbol of its tech boom, had been detained or might face legal trouble. Alibaba and the government haven’t responded to questions about him.
The Jack Ma Foundation said in a statement Wednesday: “Jack Ma participated in the online ceremony of the annual Rural Teacher Initiative event on Jan. 20.” The foundation and Alibaba didn’t respond to questions about Ma’s status and when his next public event might be.
President Xi Jinping’s government says anti-monopoly enforcement against internet companies will be a priority this year. Alibaba and other companies have been fined for violating anti-monopoly rules. Some social media services have been reprimanded for lapses in enforcing censorship.
In his October speech, Ma complained regulators had an antique “pawnshop mentality” and were hampering innovation, according to Chinese media. He appealed to them to make it easier for entrepreneurs and young people to borrow.
That clashed with the ruling party’ s marathon campaign to reduce surging debt in China’s financial systemthat prompted fears about a possible bank crisis.