Jack Ma appeared in public at a rally held Wednesday, January 20 with teachers in his hometown of Hangzhou. With less teeth than usual, the prodigy said he would devote more time to philanthropy without addressing his supposed dispute with the Chinese state. The Chinese financial market, which has been on the lookout for news of one of its icons for three months, hailed the appearance with a rush on Ali Baba stock, which jumped 11% in Hong Kong.
The Chinese billionaire, founder of Ali Baba, had not appeared in public since his criticism of the Chinese banking sector last November, on the eve of the record-breaking IPO, finally canceled, of his company Ant Group Co , today at the center of an investigation. The Chinese government has since introduced a series of tightening fintech regulations and conducted an anti-trust investigation into Ali Baba. The appearance in public of Jack Ma will certainly silence the alarmist polemics on his “voluntary disappearance” without removing all the gray areas around this affair which refers to the will of control of the Chinese state on the sector electronic payments.
