Alibaba Chairman has just confirmed: Jack Ma is ‘alive’ and ‘very happy’, ‘contemplating something’

“ Jack Ma is alive and very happy ,” the chairman of the Chinese e-commerce giant has just told CNBC after a lot of speculation surrounding Beijing’s fierce crackdown on the tech empire.

“ Well, first of all, Jack Ma is ‘alive’. He was healthy, happy, and thinking about something. Now Jack Ma is teaching at a university in Tokyo and spending more time in China ,” Alibaba Chairman Michael Evans said at the Viva Tech conference in Paris, after Maurice Levy, Group Chairman French advertising Publicis inquires about the billionaire. This shows that the world is still very interested in Jack Ma after he and Alibaba caught the attention of Beijing authorities.

It all started in November 2020 when Ant Group, the fintech arm of Alibaba founded by Jack Ma, was forced to cancel its IPO, which was expected to be the largest offering in the world.

Alibaba was later fined $2.8 billion for antitrust-related charges in 2021. China’s tech industry also had to comply with a host of new regulations, ranging from market competition to data privacy. Whether.

Once an inspirational icon for young people, Jack Ma gradually lost his position and almost disappeared from the media. In 2022, Chinese media reported that the founder of Alibaba was living with his family in central Tokyo. An employee of a nearby sushi restaurant told the WSJ that Ma’s assistant often comes here to buy specialties such as sea urchin or salmon.

Before that, Jack Ma gave up most of his power at Ant Group and gave up many positions before going abroad. By the beginning of this year, he was discovered in his hometown of China. This has led many to speculate that Beijing’s scrutiny of the tech sector may have been eased.

Evans said Jack Ma is still Alibaba’s largest shareholder.

“ This is his company. He still cares about it as much as he did in the early days. That will continue as long as Alibaba and Jack Ma are here ,” Evans said.

Jack Ma’s new life after hiding is a series of activities such as researching global food problems, visiting a tuna farming laboratory in Japan and going to a university in the Netherlands to learn about production. sustainable food.

In January of this year, he also visited Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman of CP food group. Two billionaires discussed solutions to overcome food shortages. Ma is also very interested in Thai rice farming technology.

In February, some Chinese tourists in Melbourne, Australia, saw Jack Ma. Not long after that, the social network also appeared the image of Jack Ma in the island of Fiji.

“ What you learn from books and other people isn’t always right ,” Ma said in 2017, recalling his first trip abroad since 1980. “ The world is exciting and unique. strange. You have to discover it for yourself ”.

Most recently on March 27, Jack Ma visited a university in Hangzhou to discuss issues like artificial intelligence (AI) with teachers. His arrival coincides with Beijing seeking to revive the economy and investor confidence after years of tightening its grip on the technology sector.

By: CNBC, WSJ