Alibaba founder Jack Ma spotted in China: Where was he all this time?

After staying away for months, Alibaba founder Jack Ma was finally seen in mainland China on Monday (27 March). The billionaire visited a school he founded in the city of Hangzhou, as per a report in the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The 58-year-old has mostly avoided the limelight since criticising China’s financial regulators in 2020. Who is Jack Ma and why did he reappear in mainland China? Where was he all this time? Let’s take a closer look. Who is Jack Ma? Jack Ma was born Ma Yun in 1964 in southeastern China’s Hangzhou. After graduating in the late 1980s, Ma was rejected from several jobs before being employed as an English teacher, as per the Business Insider report. He launched his first company called Haibo Translation Agency in 1994, which provided English translation and interpretation services. In 1999, he co-founded Alibaba Group, which has become one of the world’s largest e-commerce businesses. The company, which he founded along with his friends and students at a small apartment in Hangzhou, was started to connect Chinese exporters to small businesses across the globe, noted The Guardian report. It later expanded to areas such as payments, consumer retail and cloud technology, the report added. Ma is known for throwing parties for thousands of his employees and even performing for them. [caption id=“attachment_12364112” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Jack Ma is known for throwing parties for his thousands of employees and even performing for them. Reuters File Photo[/caption] In 2019, he retired as Alibaba’s chairman on his 55th birthday, handing over the reins to Daniel Zhang. After stepping down, he wanted to dedicate his days to philanthropy and promoting rural education, as per SCMP. During the days of the early pandemic, the tech magnate shipped N95 face masks and COVID-19 testing kits to more than 100 countries, including the United States, reported Business Insider. Ma announced he will relinquish control of the financial technology affiliate of Alibaba, Ant Group, in January this year. His voting rights have plunged to 6 per cent from more than 50 per cent earlier.

Presently, Ma is the seventh-richest person in China with a net worth of $24 billion, reported Forbes.

Jack Ma’s latest appearance in China According to the newspaper SCMP, which is owned by Alibaba, Ma interacted with teachers and students at Hangzhou Yungu School where he discussed topics such as artificial intelligence (AI). He talked with the campus faculty about the future of education in the era of rapidly growing AI technology. “ChatGPT and similar technologies are just the beginning of the AI era. We should use artificial intelligence to solve problems instead of being controlled by it,” the billionaire was quoted as saying by BBC. In a statement to CNN, the Jack Ma Foundation confirmed Ma’s trip to Hangzhou, saying the Alibaba founder “travels very often in China and overseas.” As per SCMP, Ma also said teaching was his “favourite profession” and would like to pursue it again one day. His trip to mainland China came after a brief sojourn in Hong Kong, where he met friends and also visited Art Basel – an international art fair, reported the newspaper. ALSO READ: Who is Bao Fan, the top tech banker reported ‘missing’ in China? Why did he ‘leave’ China? Ma disappeared from public view following the recent crackdown on several industries, including technology, education and real estate, in China. In October 2020, condemning the country’s banks and financial regulators, he had said at a financial conference in Shanghai that traditional banks had a “pawn-shop mentality”, reported BBC. Following this, the Chinese authorities halted Ant Group’s initial public offering, which was to raise $34.5 billion – believed to have been the world’s largest share offering at the time, reported Associated Press (AP). The authorities cited “major issues” over regulating the firm for cancelling the stock market flotation.

After the speech, Ma ‘disappeared’ from public view, only to be seen three months later.

There were rumours that he was under house arrest and some even speculated if he was still alive, as per BBC. [caption id=“attachment_12364142” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Jack Ma retired as Alibaba’s chairman in 2019. Reuters File Photo[/caption] On 20 January 2021, Ma was seen in a short video address for a charity event. The next month that year, he was spotted playing golf in Hainan, a tropical island in China. He is believed to have left mainland China towards the end of 2021, as per PTI. China’s once most prominent businessman largely remained out of public view after the fallout. In October 2021, Ma was reportedly on the Spanish island of Mallorca where his luxury yacht was seen. According to The Financial Times report last November, Ma had been living in Tokyo for at least six months. He brought his personal chef and security staff to the Japanese capital and became an avid modern art collector, the report said. He also frequently travelled to the United States and Israel during his stay in Japan, Financial Times reported. There have been reported sightings of him in the Netherlands and Australia as well. Earlier this year, Ma was photographed in Thailand as part of his study of farming and fishery, as per the SCMP report. The report also says the tech mogul was in Hong Kong during Lunar New Year in February. Significance of Ma’s reappearance Ma’s public appearances are being closely watched as a “barometer of Beijing’s attitude towards private businesses”, says AP. China has hinted at softening its approach towards the tech industry as the country’s economy struggles to recover after the zero-COVID policy and a real estate crash. “Although Ma has faded from public view in recent years, his whereabouts have become a litmus test for the friendliness of China’s business environment”, Angela Zhang, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, was quoted as saying by SCMP. Zhang said the market is of the view that “the more public appearance Ma gets, the more friendly the government is towards private businesses”. Ma’s return “boosts the sentiment of the broader platform and internet industry,” Zhang Zihua, chief investment officer at Beijing Yunyi Asset Management, told Reuters.  “Because that means the new top leadership has indeed been re-examining the position and the importance of the platform companies in China’s economic development.” Earlier in March, China’s newly-appointed premier, Li Qiang, tried to reassure the private sector by promising the government’s “unswerving” support. The commitment to this was “unequivocal and steadfast,” he said, as per AP. As per Reuters, Li had reached out to Ma late last year and asked him to return to China to help uplift the confidence of the private sector and investors. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.