Jack Ma In Trouble As China Govt Goes After Biz Empire Over Infractions

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Jack Ma&comma; foremost Chinese investor&comma; may have run into troubled waters<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Chinese business regulators are currently going after Jack Ma who has been criticized for edging out rivals from the market and hurting consumer rights&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As the government of China launches antitrust investigation into Alibaba&comma; the question is where is Jack Ma&quest;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Tech tycoon has been silent even as China gets tough with his business<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to reports available to OpenLife Nigeria&comma; Jack Ma&&num;8217&semi;s businesses are under enormous pressure right now&period; But the co-founder of China&&num;8217&semi;s most successful tech empire and legendary billionaire entrepreneur hasn&&num;8217&semi;t been heard from in months&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Ma hasn&&num;8217&semi;t made a public appearance or social media post since late October&comma; just over a week before a much anticipated stock market listing of Alibaba&&num;8217&semi;s &lpar;BABA&rpar; financial affiliate&comma; Ant Group&comma; was blocked at the last minute by Chinese regulators&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Ant Group has gone from preparing the world&&num;8217&semi;s largest initial public offering to being ordered to overhaul large swaths of its business&period; Chinese regulators have criticized the company for edging out rivals from the market and hurting consumer rights&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Alibaba&comma; meanwhile&comma; has been probed in <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">China<&sol;a> for alleged monopolistic behavior&period; And the Wall Street Journal reported last week that Beijing was seeking to shrink Ma&&num;8217&semi;s empire and potentially take a larger stake in his businesses&comma; citing Chinese officials and government advisers familiar with the matter&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Ma was even absent from the finale of an African talent show he created&comma; according to the Financial Times&period; The newspaper reported that <strong>Ma<&sol;strong> was replaced as a judge during the November filming of the last episode of &&num;8220&semi;Africa&&num;8217&semi;s Business Heroes&comma;&&num;8221&semi; a television contest for entrepreneurs&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As recently as Oct&period; 12&comma; Jack Ma said he was looking forward to meeting the finalists during the online finale on Nov&period; 14&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Meanwhile&comma; authentic information from<br &sol;>&NewLine;CNN Business on Monday had it that Ma &&num;8220&semi;had to miss the finale due to scheduling conflict&period;&&num;8221&semi; It declined further comment on his whereabouts&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Jack Ma has kept a lower profile within China for some time now&comma; said Duncan Clark&comma; author of &&num;8220&semi;Alibaba&colon; The House that Jack Ma Built&&num;8221&semi; and founder of investment advisory firm<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;"> BDA<&sol;a> China&period; He added that Beijing wants its narrative about the Ant Group IPO to dominate the public conversation — and that the company likely knows that it won&&num;8217&semi;t help to have any &&num;8220&semi;diversity of opinion&&num;8221&semi; on the issue&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;But certainly it&&num;8217&semi;s remarkable &&num;8230&semi; the silence is somewhat deafening&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he added&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;While Ma no longer holds executive or board level positions at either of the companies he co-founded — he stepped down as Alibaba&&num;8217&semi;s executive chairman in 2019 — he is still Alibaba&&num;8217&semi;s biggest individual shareholder with nearly 5&percnt; worth about &dollar;25 billion&period; Ant Group said in regulatory filings last year that Ma has &&num;8220&semi;ultimate control&&num;8221&semi; over the company&comma; and his personal wealth was expected to balloon after the public offering&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He has also frequently made public appearances to talk about his philanthropic work&comma; which he made a major focus after retiring from Alibaba&period; His most recent post on Chinese social media platform Weibo&comma; dated Oct&period; 17&comma; for example&comma; featured remarks he made at an education forum in China&period; Ma has also been a high profile speaker at major <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">international<&sol;a> events such as the World Economic Forum&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It was Ma&&num;8217&semi;s last major appearance&comma; though&comma; that China tech observers suspect landed his business in hot water&period; At a conference in Shanghai in late October&comma; Jack Ma publicly criticized Chinese regulators for stifling innovation by being too risk averse&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;What we need is to build a healthy financial system&comma; not systematic financial risks&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period; &&num;8220&semi;To innovate without risks is to kill innovation&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s no innovation without risks in the world&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s not clear from official or company statements whether Ma has attended any meetings since then regarding the future of his businesses&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;While Ma has been out of the spotlight&comma; his companies have made clear that they are listening to Beijing&period; Ant said last week that it appreciated &&num;8220&semi;guidance and help&&num;8221&semi; from regulators after Beijing spoke publicly about its requirements for the company&period; And Alibaba pledged in late December to &&num;8220&semi;actively cooperate&&num;8221&semi; with antitrust investigators&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The potential threats to Ma&&num;8217&semi;s businesses aren&&num;8217&semi;t limited to China&comma; either&period; Washington has been ratcheting up its campaign against Chinese businesses in recent weeks as the Trump administration draws to a close&period; And while Alibaba hasn&&num;8217&semi;t been specifically targeted&comma; the company was name-checked by <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo<&sol;a> late last summer when he urged American companies to remove &&num;8220&semi;untrusted&&num;8221&semi; Chinese-owned technology from their digital networks&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Public opinion about Jack Ma in China&comma; meanwhile&comma; has turned sour&period; Many of the replies to Ma&&num;8217&semi;s October Weibo post struck a particularly negative tone&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Again it&&num;8217&semi;s about resources and brain mines&comma;&&num;8221&semi; wrote one Weibo user&comma; responding to Jack Ma&&num;8217&semi;s use of those words to describe children in China and the need for a strong education system&period; &&num;8220&semi;It is totally a line from a capitalist&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;