Where is Jack Ma? Chinese billionaire’s sudden disappearance creates mystery

Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire currently under scrutiny by the government of China, has reportedly not been seen in public for several weeks. This has led to speculations that Ma could be missing.

Ma was supposed to appear as a judge in the final episode of the talent show, Africa’s Business Heroes, but failed to appear, reported the UK Telegraph.The 56-year-old was replaced by an Alibaba executive in the final episode of the show, which gave budding African entrepreneurs the chance to compete for a prize of $1.5million. Even Ma’s photos were taken off the show’s website and he was left out of a promotional video of the show.

Jack Ma’s whereabouts have come under questioning at a time when his companies- Alibaba and Ant Group have increasingly come under scrutiny in China. Alibaba and Ant Group, founded and guided by Ma, are currently faced with an antitrust probe for alleged monopolistic practices.

However officials from Alibaba told Financial Times that Ma couldn’t appear on the show due to a conflict in schedules.

Ma, who once held the tag of wealthiest man in Asia, has seen a massive tumble in his net worth. According to the Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Ma has lost over $11 billion in the last three months- from the highs of $61 billion in October 2020 to $50.6 billion currently.

A few months ago the Chinese government had stopped an IPO of Jack Ma’s Ant group after the billionaire criticised China’s financial regulators and state-owned banks in October 2020.

He publicly criticised the Chinese regulators and had called the country’s banks “pawnshops”. He condemned the regulators for “stifling innovation’ and compared global banking rules to an ‘old man’s club’. These criticisms against Chinese authorities cost him big time as Chinese officials have turned the heat against him.