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Added on the 26/04/2019 10:50:34 - Copyright : Wochit
Shares of Chinese shopping website Alibaba fell as much as 3% on Monday. The prolonged absence from the public view of its founder Jack Ma has raised eyebrows. According to Markets Insider, Ma has not been seen in public in more than two months. When he unexpectedly failed to show up, he was abruptly replaced as a judge on an African entrepreneurship TV show late last year. His companies Alibaba and Ant Group face increased regulatory pressure from the Chinese government. The crackdown coincides with Ma's remarks at a conference that Chinese financial regulators were an 'old people's club,' unable to keep up with technology.
Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba and Ant Group hasn't been seen in public in over two months. At a Shanghai conference in late October, Ma called financial regulators an 'old people's club' ill-suited to oversee Chinese tech innovation. In response, Chinese regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Jack Ma's online shopping behemoth. The government also introduced new regulations that halted the IPO of Ma's Ant Group. But Business Insider reports Ma's disappearance isn't unique among prominent Chinese personalities who have tangled with the government. Retired real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang and former asset manager Xiao Jianhua, have also disappeared after facing criticism from Chinese regulators. And Meng Hongwei, the former head of the International Criminal Police Organization, disappeared in September 2018 during a trip to China from France.