Lie down in the bottom in Hangzhou

The founder of Alibaba Jack Ma has not appeared in public for more than two months. What is known about his loss

One of the most famous Chinese entrepreneurs, the founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma has not appeared in public since the end of October, the media noted. Until recently, a businessman and a member of the Communist Party were considered a role model in the PRC, he was appreciated for his contribution to the digital economy, but in October he performed at the financial forum in Shanghai and criticized international financial norms and political elites for an outdated approach to economic regulation. “We cannot use yesterday's methods to regulate the future,” he said . MA added that the framework of the Basel agreements ( documents of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, establishing strict standards for financial regulation and risk management. - Ed. ) Limit the possibilities for young people and developing countries and called politicians the "Club of Older People".

After that, the “daughter” of Alibaba, which controls the largest digital payment system of China Alipay, Ant Group - problems began. Already in early November, Chinese regulatory authorities suspended the primary public placement of Ant Group shares worth more than $ 34 billion two days before the event. This was to be the largest IPO in world history. In addition, in December, the Chinese authorities began an antitrust investigation against Alibaba.

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The 56-year-old former English teacher Jack Ma founded Alibaba Group in 1999. The startup united wholesale buyers and sellers, but eventually turned into a fast -growing technological empire. Today, the annual volume of Alibaba sales exceeds $ 86 billion.

The success of the company in electronic trade also contributed to the development of the Alipay payment application, which formed the basis of Ant Group controlled by the MA. In September 2019, the entrepreneur resigned to the head of Alibaba and focused on charity and traveling around the world to promote education and entrepreneurship. However, he remained one of the key persons in the company.

The vice-chairman of the Central Bank of China, Pan GunShen, said that the corporate administration of Ant Group was “unreliable”, and ordered the company to “return to the origins”, that is, to become a provider of payment services again. The representative of the Central Bank called Anti representatives to a meeting with the regulatory authorities in Beijing and said that the company should “correct illegal financial activities for lending, insurance and asset management”. At the same time, according to analysts, ANT divisions offering these services are the fastest growing and profitable.

The sources of The Wall Street Journal claimed that MA offered the Chinese authorities any of the Ant Group assets, trying to improve relations with them. In the company itself, the details of the meeting were not confirmed or refuted, since it was confidential.

On January 1, The Financial Times reported that MA did not appear on the set of the last episode of his own show Africaa Business Heroes. His photographs were also removed from the page of the jury on the site, there was no entrepreneur even in the promotional grinder. The representative of Alibaba told Taiwan News that Ma could not attend the final because of the "troubles in the schedule." At the same time, on August 19 last year, MA on his Twitter congratulated 20 finalists of the show and wrote: “I can’t wait for a meeting with them!”

The CNBC source claims that MA, presumably, "lay on the bottom." The presenter David Faber said that the entrepreneur is most likely in Hangzhou, at Alibaba headquarters, and purposefully hides there. The versions that MA was simply “laying on the bottom” adheres to the chairman of the Beijing technological consulting company BDA China Duncan Clark: “This is a fairly unique situation, more associated with a huge scale of Ant and sensitivity in relation to financial regulation.”

A source of Bloomberg, familiar with the question, said that China authorities recommended MA not to leave the country.

The conflict with the Chinese authorities deprived Ma more than $ 10 billion. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index , his condition at the moment is 51.5 billion dollars, and he still remains one of the richest people in China. However, Alipay is not only a conflict with the authorities of the native country MA. US President Donald Trump on January 5, at the end of his term at the post, banned eight Chinese payment applications, including Alipay. The decree will enter into force after 45 days.