Jack Mathe founder of the e-commerce giant Ali Babathe richest man in China until 2021, would have lived six months in Japan according to the FinancialTimes. Long very influential in the Middle Kingdom, he disappeared for a time at the very beginning of Beijing’s crackdown on the technology sector and its billionaires in October 2020. Since then, his appearances have remained exceptional.
Japanese calm after Beijing anger
Jack Ma has moved away from the turmoil of Chinese political life, between a zero Covid policy which has sparked popular protest unprecedented since the events of Tianamen in 1989 and a takeover of the Tech sector by Beijing which does not end. .
The billionaire would have taken advantage of the calm found in his existence to paint, take an interest in modern Japanese art or go to Japanese spas or ski resorts. According to the British daily, he would also have traveled to the United States and Israel and frequented select clubs in Tokyo, appreciated by wealthy Chinese citizens present in Japan.
For the past two years, Jack Ma has no longer spent his days meeting the cream of the Chinese Communist Party or Western leaders. A speech criticizing the state banks of his country brought him the wrath of the all-powerful President Xi Jinping.
This untimely speech seems to have been the trigger for a reining in of the Chinese technological milieu and of their founders who have become threats to the power of the president. It was Ant Group, one of Jack Ma’s companies, which was the first affected, prevented from entering the stock market by the Chinese regulatory authorities. A few months later, Alibaba is sentenced to a record fine of 2.3 billion euros for abuse of a dominant position.
Jack Ma, based in Hangzhou, where his company is based, will disappear from the radar after this event, fueling all kinds of rumours. His first media appearance takes place three months laterat the end of January 2021, in a video aimed at teachers in rural areas.
How does Jack Ma occupy his more or less forced exile?
Since he was spotted at an Alibaba event in Hong Kong, in Majorca in Spain, this summer in the Netherlands, to learn about sustainable food production. According to one of the sources of FinancialTimesJack Ma would have taken advantage of his stay in the Land of the Rising Sun to expand his economic activities.
He would be very interested in issues related to sustainable development, now that he walked away from its two creations, Alibaba and Ant Group. The question of a return to the front of the stage with a new project is always possible, especially with a fortune estimated at several tens of billions, but what would the leader of Beijing say?
