Alibaba founder returns to China after more than a year abroad

The billionaire founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Jack Mahas returned to China after staying abroad for more than a year, reports the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post today.

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The businessman disappeared from Chinese public life in 2020 after criticizing the country’s financial control system, after which Chinese regulators suspended the listing of Ant Group, Alibaba’s fintech company, under a regulation more restrictive for the sector.

Since then, Ma has kept a low profile and numerous international media have reported on his trips abroad, to places like the Spanish island of Ibiza, Thailand or Japan.

The Chinese tycoon, with whose arrest there was speculation, visited a school on Monday in the city of Hangzhou (east) founded by Alibaba executives in 2017, according to an exclusive publication by the aforementioned newspaper.

Ma, who stepped down as Alibaba’s chairman in 2019, discussed issues such as education and artificial intelligence with the school’s staff, the outlet notes.

The value of the shares of the electronic commerce giant grew 4.28% shortly after 1:00 p.m. local time (05:00 GMT) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is listed.

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Beijing allowed the technology sector to grow without too many regulations for years, but in 2020 a campaign of scrutiny began that has resulted in recent years with high sanctions for several companies in the field.

Among them is Alibaba, which in 2021 received a large antitrust fine worth 18,200 million yuan (2,646 million dollars, 2,458 million euros), the largest of its kind in the country’s history.

In the last two years, the Chinese digital giants have lost trillions of dollars in market value in both Hong Kong and New York, with cases such as the aforementioned fine against Alibaba or the cybersecurity investigation of “Chinese Uber” Didi after going out on stock market in the New York stock market despite the apparent opposition of the Chinese government, which caused a collapse of its shares and the subsequent decision to withdraw them from that market.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.