Jack is Back
Arguably China’s most famous billionaire, Jack Ma, has finally reappeared in public view after going missing for a couple of months. Jack Ma is the founder of the renowned Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba, and according to estimates by Forbes, Ma is worth about $58.4 billion.
Jack Ma’s enthusiastic, rock-star personality and successful business ventures propelled him to international stardom, quite rare for a businessperson in China. Late last year, one of Jack Ma’s companies, Ant Group, was scheduled to IPO. Ant Group is an affiliate company of Alibaba, and it is China’s largest digital payment platform. The IPO was scheduled to be the largest offering in history; it was expected to raise an estimated $37 billion. However, the Ant Group IPO was cancelled just two days before the offering.
Chinese regulators said the reason for halting Ant Group’s offering is because they are investigating Alibaba for “alleged anti-competitive behaviors on its e-commerce platform.” Shares of Alibaba plummeted 9% after the news of the cancellation was announced.
After Chinese regulators canceled his IPO, Jack Ma disappeared from public view for nearly three months. Fortunately, Jack Ma appears to be back, releasing a video on Wednesday saying, “We’ll meet again after the epidemic is over.”
Ma’s reappearance soothed investors, as his disappearance led many to wonder if something terrible happened to him. It’ll be interesting to see if Chinese regulators continue to examine Jack Ma’s companies for signs of monopolization and anti-competitive behavior. It’ll also be interesting to see how Ma’s reappearance affects the stock price of Alibaba. Shares closed up over 5% following Ma’s video.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.