Alibaba founder Jack Ma ‘disappears’ after conflict with Chinese govt

Beijing/New Delhi: Tech billionaire and Alibaba founder Jack Ma has “disappeared” from public life and has not been spotted for at least two months amid the conflict with the Chinese regulators.
The Financial Times reported that Ma was recently replaced as a judge in the final of TV show ‘Africa’s Business Heroes’.
“His photograph was removed from the judging webpage, and he was conspicuously left out of a promotional video,” the report claimed.
The final took place in November, shortly after Ma “made a candid speech criticising China’s regulators and its state-owned banks”.
“Ma was dressed down by officials in Beijing and the $37 billion initial public offering of his company Ant Group was suspended. He has not been seen in public since,” the report further said.
A spokesperson for Alibaba was quoted as saying that “due to a schedule conflict Mr Ma could no longer be part of the finale judge panel of Africa’s Business Heroes earlier this year (2020)”.