Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba and Ant Group, has not been seen for two months

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba and Ant Group, is suspected to be missing, Jessica Yun reported on Yahoo Finance.

According to the report, the 56-year-old businessman has not been seen in public for more than two months.

Mom was in the spotlight recently because China has shut down its business empire. In late December, Chinese regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba, the country’s largest e-commerce company, which some call “the Amazon of China”. And in November, China introduced a series of new regulations that would halt the large initial public offering from Ma’s fintech company, Ant Group.

The new rules came weeks after Ma criticized China’s financial regulatory system during a conference in Shanghai. At the conference, Ma reportedly rejected the global financial regulations used by China as a ‘boys’ club ‘, saying:’ We can not use yesterday’s methods to regulate the future. ‘

Blair Silverberg, chief executive of Capital Provider Capital, told Katie Canales of Business Insider in November that the new regulations had been put in place “so that the government could assert its rule over Jack Ma.”

In November, Ma was replaced as a judge of the African talent program he founded, ‘Africa’s Business Heroes’, reports the Financial Times. The talent show did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment, but an Alibaba spokesman told Business that Ma could no longer be on the judging panel for the final finale of the show – which was recorded in November, but has not yet been issued – “due to a scheduling conflict.”

‘We do not have to do anything add further, ‘the spokesperson said in response to questions about Ma’s whereabouts.

Mom stepped down as chairman of Alibaba in 2019.

jack ma ant group alibaba china

Mom stepped down as chairman of Alibaba in 2019.

Wang HE / Getty Images


Until recently, Ma was the richest man in China with a fortune reaching more than $ 60 billion. However, Mom’s net worth has hit $ 12 billion over the past two months as China tightens rules for the financial technology industry. Today, Ma is worth $ 50.6 billion, making him the fourth richest person in China, according to the Bloomberg billionaire index.

As news of Ma’s alleged disappearance spread, a prediction in August 2019 about Ma by another billionaire Chinese businessman was circulating on social media.

In the video interview, Guo Wengui, who fled China in 2014 as a refugee and claims to be a whistleblower exposing corruption in the country, said Ma would probably end up in jail or die in the next year because China wants to “take back” Mom’s profitable Ant Group.

Last week, the Chinese government ordered Ant Group, which owns China’s largest digital payment platform Alipay, to reduce its operations after expressing concern that corporate governance is not sound.

An Ant Group spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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