But where is Jack Ma ? The billionaire chinese, the creator of the e-commerce site Alibaba and 25e the richest man in the world, according to the ranking of Bloomberg, has been “disappeared” since the end of October. Since this date, it is not appeared in public, highlights the Financial Times. Chance or coincidence, it was held, on 24 October, a speech by particularly critical of the chinese regime. What fuel speculation.
The last few weeks already had all of the descent to the underworld to Jack Ma. After his keynote address in which he called for a reform of the chinese financial system, the self-made-man 56-year-old had fallen in disgrace. Summoned by the authorities, it has also been the subject of financial sanctions. Beijing had chosen to suspend the ipo of Ant, the bank’s online Alibaba. The cancellation of the operation that would have helped raise at least $ 35 billion on the financial markets has plunged the share of Alibaba in the Stock market. And then, on the 24th of December, the communist regime announced the opening of an investigation, suspecting the group of ” monopolistic practices “. However, during this period of time, in spite of the problems encountered by his company, Jack Ma, is not appeared in public only once, says the financial newspaper in london.
Read also China : billionaire Jack Ma in disgrace
The disappearance of digital ?
In the month of November, Jack Ma would have had to be present in the jury for the final ofAfrica’s Business Heroes, a program that gives voice to entrepreneurs on the african continent and enables them to potentially earn $ 1.5 million. But, Jack Ma was absent, replaced by Lucy Peng, a top-placed group Alibaba. According to a spokesperson for the group, the replacement would be related to a problem of employment of the time. But, the photo of Jack Ma has also disappeared from the site of the show and a promotional video, explains Financial Times. At the same time, the last tweet from Jack Ma on October 10, 2020.
As pointed out in The World at the end of December, the chinese regime has not hesitated to neutralize the business men, showing himself to be critical of the current government in recent months. Beyond Jack Ma, several entrepreneurs have been the target of the authorities. Ren Zhiquiang, a real estate magnate has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, Sun Dawu, the founder of Dawu Group, and his wife have been arrested after they criticized the intervention of the police on the social network Weibo. As stated in the daily, these arrests arise while the central committee of the party has decided to strengthen the presence of the communist Party of china (CPC) in business.
Also read Phoebe – The “great leap forward” of China