China's fourth richest man, Jack Ma of Alibaba and Ant Group, hasn't been seen in public two months following Beijing's crackdown on his companies, Yahoo Finance reported on Sunday.
Last month, Chinese regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba, the country's biggest e-commerce company, sometimes referred to as "the Amazon of China." And in November, China introduced regulations that halted what would have been a massive initial public offering for Ant Group, Ma's fintech company, Yahoo Finance said.
The new rules came weeks after Ma criticized China's financial regulatory system at a conference in Shanghai. Ma reportedly dismissed the global financial regulations used by China as "an old people's club" and said that "we can't use yesterday's methods to regulate the future," Yahoo Finance said.
The Alibaba founder also failed to appear as scheduled in the final episode of his own talent show, Africa’s Business Heroes, which gives budding African entrepreneurs the chance to compete for a slice of US $1.5 million.
Ma was supposed to be part of the judging, but was replaced by an Alibaba executive in the November final, UK’s Telegraph reported. His picture was also taken off the website.
An Alibaba spokesperson said Ma was unable to take part on the judging panel “due to a schedule conflict”, according to Financial Times.
Ma’s business empire, Ant Group, has been under scrutiny by Beijing ever since Ma delivered a controversial speech in Shanghai on October 24, that criticised China’s regulation system for stifling innovation and likened global banking rules to an “old people’s club”.
Ma stepped down as Alibaba's chairman in 2019.
As speculation about Ma's whereabouts spread, a prediction about Ma from another billionaire Chinese businessman recirculated on social media.
In a video interview in August 2019, Guo Wengui, who fled China as a fugitive in 2014 and has described himself as a whistleblower exposing corruption in the country, said Ma would likely end up in jail or dead in the next year because China wanted to "take back" Ma's lucrative Ant Group.
Last week, the Chinese government ordered Ant Group, which owns Alipay, China's largest digital-payment platform, to scale back its operations after expressing concerns that its corporate governance was "not sound."
Ma has donated millions of face masks to Europe, the US and the World Health Organisation in a bid to stem the pandemic.
The billionaire is also involved in charity work, with the Jack Ma
Foundation focused on areas of education, entrepreneurship, female leadership, and the environment.
The Foundation has distributed or pledged more than US $300 million, Forbes reported.