By Francis Ogwo
Chinese billionaire businessman Jack Ma has emerged into public space after being away from months and raising uncertainties about his business interests.
Ma, who is the owner of Ali Baba and co-founder of Ant, had cleared all speculations about his whereabouts when he addressed teachers during an online conference on Wednesday as part of an annual event the billionaire hosted to recognize the achievements of rural educators.
His appearance, first reported in a local blog, was confirmed by people familiar with the matter.
The resurfacing of Jack Ma, experts believe would douse widespread rumours about his fate while Beijing pursues investigations into online finance of titan Ant Group and Alibaba Group Holding.
The executive had kept out of public view since early November, when Chinese regulators torpedoed Ant’s $35 billion IPO, tightened fintech regulations, then ordered an overhaul of Ant and launched a separate antitrust probe into Alibaba within few days
The assault on Ma’s trillion-dollar corporate empire encapsulates a broader campaign to rein in a generation of Chinese tech giants that Beijing now views as wielding too much control over the world’s No. 2 economy.
The flurry of actions against his twin companies drove home how Beijing has lost patience with the outsize power of its technology moguls, perceived now as a threat to the political and financial stability President Xi Jinping prizes most.
Jack Ma founded Alibaba Group Holding Limited, also known as Alibaba Group and as Alibaba.com, on 28th June 1999 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
It is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in e-commerce, retail, internet, and technology.
