Tech Tycoon Jack Ma Mysteriously Disappears After Criticism Of The Chinese Government

JAKARTA - Billionaire and Chinese technology tycoon, Jack Ma, suddenly disappeared under mysterious circumstances after criticizing President Xi Jinping's policies at an event. Jack Ma and family have not even been seen in public since the end of last October.

Launching the page of The Sun, the founder of Alibaba has not even appeared as a judge at Africa's Business Heroes, a TV contest for budding entrepreneurs.

I am honored to partner with HRH The Duke of Cambridge @KensingtonRoyal & other global leaders and organizations to support the @EarthshotPrize and tackle the environmental challenges we all face. Together, we can protect our planet from climate change! https://t.co/0ax1imIZMC pic.twitter.com/EN6yissNGI

- Jack Ma (@JackMa) October 10, 2020

"Due to conflicting schedules, Mr Ma can no longer be part of the final panel of judges for African Business Heroes earlier this year," said an Alibaba spokesman.

It is known that the Chinese government and regulators announced an anti-monopoly investigation for Alibaba. The presidential decree was announced days after Jack Ma criticized the state bank and financial watchdog.

President Xi ordered Chinese regulators to stop the planned initial public offering (IPO) of financial technology company Ant Group, initiated by Jack Ma, prior to the initial listing of shares on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.

The boss of Alibaba himself is a Chinese philanthropist who is known to develop many business fields. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jack Ma has poured tens of millions of face masks and ventilators around the world.

Launching the Forbes page, analyst Mike O'Sullivan revealed that the Chinese government has a long history of silencing critics, including billionaires. In March 2020, a property tycoon, Ren Zhiqiang, disappeared after he called President Xi Jinping a 'clown' for his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Ren Zhiqiang's relatives confirmed they could no longer contact him. And six months later he was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he "voluntarily and honestly confessed to various crimes of corruption."

As a successful entrepreneur, Jack Ma is reported to have assets of as much as 62 billion US dollars sourced from Alibaba. Jack Ma's wealth can even match Jeff Besoz as a billionaire who has assets of US $ 63.1 billion.