[ad_1]
Alibaba founder Jack Ma has traveled out of China for the primary time in a yr, in response to Hong Kong media.
Ma is reportedly in Spain the place he’ll embark on a research tour on agriculture and expertise associated to environmental points.
Ma’s tech empire has come underneath intense scrutiny since he criticized the Chinese language regulatory system final October.
Loading
One thing is loading.
Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma has made his first journey out of China in over a yr, in response to a number of Hong Kong media sources, together with South China Morning Publish and East Week.The Chinese language billionaire was final seen in Hong Kong, the place he met with enterprise associates final week, Reuters reported.Ma is now in Spain to study agriculture and expertise associated to environmental points, the South China Morning Publish reported, citing an unnamed supply conversant in Ma’s schedule. The SCMP is owned by Alibaba.Hong Kong journal East Week reported Ma flew to Spain on his non-public jet on Saturday.
Ma’s latest whereabouts have been the topic of intense hypothesis. The outspoken teacher-turned-tech titan was as soon as a high-profile jetsetter, who spent round a 3rd of his time touring overseas in 2018, in response to SCMP. However Ma has been laying low since final October when he gave a speech criticizing China’s monetary regulatory system. Ma’s phrases angered the Chinese language authorities, prompting intense regulatory scrutiny on his companies. Alibaba’s fintech spin-off Ant Group, for instance, has had its mega IPO — most lately valued at $35 billion —suspended since final November. And in December, Chinese language regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba that resulted in a $2.8 billion nice. Ma additionally disappeared from public view for 2 months earlier than reappearing in a video convention in late January.
Alibaba didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s question about Ma’s reported journey to Europe, however instructed the SCMP that Ma is not concerned within the firm’s operations. He retired as Alibaba’s chairman in 2019.Alibaba shares in Hong Kong are popping on Wednesday, gaining as a lot as 9% by noon.
[ad_2]