Clashing With The Government And Disappearing, Jack Ma Is No Longer The Richest Person In China

Jack Ma. (doc. Twitter @AlibabaGroup)

JAKARTA - Alibaba founder Jack Ma has slipped to third on the list of the richest people in China. That was after President Xi Jinping's Jack Ma was on a show and disappeared from his own TV show.

It was the CEO and founder of the e-commerce marketplace Pinduoduo, Colin Huang, who had couched Jack Ma's position. Then Pony Ma (Ma Huateng) from Tencent Holdings to become the second richest person in the Bamboo Curtain country.

The existence of Jack Ma still remains a mystery. She has suddenly disappeared from her own TV talent show and there hasn't been any sign of her since late October.

Quoting the Daily Mail, Monday 4 January, Jack Ma has made a fortune of around 35 billion pounds from the creation of Alibaba. Jack Ma is an icon for the communist regime.

But the Chinese government appears to have turned against Ma after the 56-year-old criticized regulators and state-owned banks at a financial technology conference in October.

Alibaba's fate in China has been in uncertainty since Beijing drafted a document to crack down on the 'platform economy' phenomenon in early November. Meanwhile, Ma's profile has been removed from the judging webpage for Africa's Business Heroes, a television program for budding entrepreneurs.

The finals for the talent show took place without Jack Ma and he was also absent from the promotional video. In fact, a few weeks before the finals in November, Jack Ma posted a tweet saying that he couldn't wait to meet the contestants.

Meanwhile, there has been no activity since then on Jack Ma's Twitter account. Whereas previously he routinely posted a few tweets every day.

Despite being one of China's most successful businessmen, the father of three often clashed with the regime over its preference for a more open market economy. So far there is no indication that he is physically injured.

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.