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Deepti Sri · · 1 min readJack Ma makes his first public appearance since China’s crackdown on his empire
The Alibaba co-founder today met with teachers in China through an online event that he annually hosts to recognize educators, the report noted, which fintech giant Ant Group has confirmed to Tech in Asia.
A 50-second video from the event showed Ma saying that he is looking to spend more time on philanthropy. The exec, however, did not make any mention of Beijing’s investigation into Ant Group.
Ant Group has also confirmed the authenticity of the video to Tech in Asia.
On October 24, Ma had made some fiery remarks about China’s regulatory system to an audience of high-ranking officials. Ant’s US$37 billion IPO was suspended shortly after.
The billionaire’s net worth tumbled by nearly US$11 billion since the end of October as China stepped up its probe into his empire and ordered Ant executives to “rectify” the fintech giant’s lending, insurance, and wealth management businesses.
See also: Recap 2020: A year of roadblocks for Chinese tech startups
Ma’s first appearance since then has spurred an over 4% rise in Alibaba’s shares.
His public appearance also comes amid reports of the Alibaba Group planning to raise at least US$5 billion through the sale of a US dollar-denominated bond this month. Proceeds from the capital raise could touch US$8 billion, which is reportedly intended to be used for general corporate expenditure.
Editing by Miguel Cordon and September Grace Mahino
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