Chinese Billionaire Jack Ma criticized the Financial institutions of the Chinese Government in October 2020. Since then he is reportedly missing. Jack Ma is known for his outspoken behavior related to local and international issues.
What Happened in October Month?
Jack Ma is a business mogul. He is the man behind the success of Alibaba. People consider Alibaba as the Chinese version of Amazon. Other than Alibaba, he also established FinTech Venture Ant Group.
The major controversy started related to Ant Group. Jack Ma heavily criticized financial authorities and state banks for unnecessary rules and regulations imposed on the financial sector.
He even correlated the global banking policies as ‘Old Man’s Club’. Comparing the Chinese bank system with ‘pawnshop’ did not go down well with Chinese President Xi Jinping. As per the reports, he intervened in the issue and punished Jack Ma’s business.
After the heavy criticism by Jack Ma, Chinese authorities had halted the Ant group Initial Public Offering(IPO). Authorities also asked Ant Group officials to roll back a few of its offerings. State regulators also questioned the Ant’s digital financial products like Virtual credit card without any proper approval.
Chinese authorities also raised questions about Alibaba’s business activities. A special committee has started an Anti-monopoly investigation against Alibaba in December 2020. The committee instructed Jack Ma to stay in China until the investigation is over.
How Media Suspected about Missing of Jack Ma?
Other than the business, Jack Ma is known for his regular public appearances through digital media. People consider him a motivational speaker as well. Jack’s sudden disappearance from the public domain raised the eyebrows of a few.
Doubts became more strong when he did not appear in the finale of his talent show ‘Africa’s Business Heroes.’ Another Alibaba executive participated in the show in place of Jack. That executive also informed the media that Jack Ma is busy in other business engagements. But it was not enough to convince the people. Doubts came closer to reality when Jack Ma’s photo was also removed from the talent show website.
In 2016-17, a similar incident happened when so many Chinese Billionaires vanished under an Anti-corruption drive. Among those disappeared billionaires, few reappeared again but some of them are still missing.
Experts are having different views about this series of events. Some experts like famous German investor Mark Mobius believe that it all happened to limit Chinese Financial Institutions from getting huge. Other experts have different opinions. As per their understanding, it all happened because of Chinese authorities’ heavy criticisms by Jack Ma.
