Posted on 01/03/2021 1:03:21 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The Chinese tech billionaire behind Asia's version of Amazon has reportedly not been seen in public for more than two months after falling foul of President Xi Jinping.
Jack Ma, one of China's most successful and outspoken tycoons, criticised the country's 'pawnshop' financial regulators and state-owned banks in an incendiary speech in Shanghai in October.
He called for reform of a system that 'stifled business innovation' and likened global banking regulations to an 'old people's club'.
The speech angered the Chinese government, which viewed Ma's criticisms as an attack on the authority of the Communist Party, and led to its extraordinary clampdown on Ma's business activities.
In November, officials in Beijing 'dressed down' Ma and suspended the blockbuster $37billion initial public offering of his Ant Group on the direct order of President Xi, the Wall Street Journal reports.
They then advised Ma to remain in China before launching an anti-monopoly investigation into Ma's Alibaba Group Holding on Christmas Eve, according to Bloomberg. Beijing also ordered Ma's financial tech company Ant Group to scale back its operations.
Ma then mysteriously disappeared from his Dragons' Den-style TV show Africa's Business Heroes just before the November final, while his photo was scrubbed from the show's judging panel webpage.
A spokesperson for Alibaba told the Financial Times that Ma could no longer be part of the judging panel 'due to a schedule conflict'.
But weeks before the final, Ma tweeted that he 'couldn't wait' to meet the contestants. There has been no activity since then on the father-of-three's Twitter account, one that had regularly seen several tweets a day.
Beijing has a history of ruthless action against its internal critics and in March a property tycoon disappeared after he called President Xi a 'clown' for his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
That is he is buried in cement...
He was turned into spare parts.
Oh fresh sushi for fishpond consumption
Has anyone checked to see if he’s at the wet market in Wuhan?
He is in home detention, a prison, or a Logai.
You forgot Fan Bingbing who disappeared for several months over tax evasion and returned apologising and singing the praises of the Party...
As for the unfortunate Mr. Ma, he may still live, but they are more likely trying to decide if he committed suicide or was shot trying to escape...
Pining for the fjords.
The schism between Chicoms and Chicaps is going to grow more intense.
By destroying the Chicaps, the Chicoms will in effect promote revolution
“How ya gonna keep em down on the farm after they’ve got Daisey Maes?” bert
Translation: The young women with relative prosperity and freedom will not tolerate communist oppression. The cat is out of the bag. The toothpaste is out of the tube
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