Alibaba founder Jack Ma has reportedly not been seen publicly for two months, leading to speculation that the Chinese billionaire is ‘missing’. The Financial Times reported that Ma was recently replaced as a judge in the final of TV show 'Africa's Business Heroes'. "His photograph was removed from the judging webpage, and he was conspicuously left out of a promotional video," the report claimed.
A spokesperson for Alibaba was quoted as saying that "due to a schedule conflict Mr Ma could no longer be part of the finale judge panel of Africa's Business Heroes earlier this year (2020)". The final took place in November, shortly after Ma "made a candid speech criticising China's regulators and its state-owned banks". He had said that Chinese regulators have a “pawnshop mentality”. He had previously also said that if banks don’t change, ‘we will change the banks’.
According to Forbes, this dissent against the Chinese authorities put Ant Group in trouble, as high profile persons challenging Xi Jinping’s policies is not taken well by the government. "Ma was dressed down by officials in Beijing and the $37 billion initial public offering of his company Ant Group was suspended. He has not been seen in public since," the Financial Times report added.
Last month, as China's top market watchdog began investigation into alleged anti-competition practices by the e-commerce giant Alibaba, the country also laid out "rectification plan" for Ma's fintech venture Ant Group. According to a report in TechCrunch, the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, "summoned Ant Group for regulatory talks on December 26th, announcing a sweeping plan for the fintech firm to 'rectify' its regulatory violations".
The banking authority laid out a five-point compliance agenda for Ant Group. The agenda is that Ant Group should return to its roots in payments and bring more transparency to transactions. Ant Group said it has established an internal "rectification workforce" to work on all the regulatory requirements.
Xinhua news agency had first reported that The People's Bank of China, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, and State Administration of Foreign Exchange will "interview Ant Group in the near future". The State Administration for Market Regulation started investigation into alleged anti-competition practices by e commerce giant Alibaba, as Beijing tightened control of an expanding Internet.
In a brief note, the State Administration for Market Regulation said that it is investigating Alibaba over its "choosing one from two" policy. As part of this policy, merchants are forced to sell exclusively on Alibaba e-commerce platforms and skip rivals like JD.com.
Alibaba Group said in a statement that they have received notification from the State Administration for Market Regulation.
Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based tech consultancy BDA China told Reuters that he believes that Ma has been told to lay low. Calling it a “unique situation”, Clark added that this is more connected with the “sheer scale of Ant and the sensitivities over financial regulation.”
According to a report in The Independent, Chinese billionaires or CEOs have earlier disappeared in ‘state-sanctioned’ abductions. The last time this happened, Chinese financier Xiao Jianhua – who is connected with President Xi Jinping – was apparently kidnapped on January 27. Per Financial Times, he left his room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong and was escorted by state security personnel to the mainland.
(With IANS inputs)