jack ma
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Jack Ma loses title as China’s richest man after coming under scrutiny
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Jack Ma reportedly spotted golfing after hiding out for weeks
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Ant Group reportedly reaches deal with China regulators on restructuring
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Jack Ma snubbed by Chinese newspaper from business leaders list
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Jack Ma’s clash with Beijing may have pushed him out of the public spotlight \u2014 but it didn’t stop him from taking to the skies.<\/p>\n
The billionaire Alibaba founder — whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $61.4 billion — traveled freely around China at the start of the year amid speculation that he had disappeared, a new report says.<\/p>\n
Ma, 56, has been laying low since he slammed China’s regulatory system in an October speech that apparently angered Beijing officials, who subsequently halted his payment firm Ant Group’s initial public offering.<\/p>\n
His unusual public absence reportedly led some observers to wonder whether he had gone missing, fled the country or been placed under house arrest.<\/p>\n
But Ma has actually remained in China, using his private Gulfstream jet to criss-cross the country while trying to smooth things over with the country’s regulators, the Financial Times reported Friday.<\/p>\n
The newspaper obtained flight records showing that Ma traveled about once a week in January and February, primarily to Beijing and the island of Hainan, where he was reportedly spotted playing golf in recent months.<\/p>\n
His plane was in the Chinese capital in late January as Ant negotiated a restructuring plan with regulators after being forced to scrap its IPO, according to the outlet. That deal has reportedly been agreed to but officials have not announced it publicly.<\/p>\n
But Ma’s travel has slowed down significantly compared to the months before his battle with Beijing, when he was flying once every three days on average, the Financial Times says.<\/p>\n
Neither Alibaba, the giant e-commerce company Ma co-founded, nor his charitable foundation immediately responded to requests for comment Friday.<\/p>\n
Alibaba’s US-listed stock dropped as much as 4.6 percent Friday after Ant Group \u2014 which is affiliated with Alibaba \u2014 announced that its CEO Simon Hu had stepped down. <\/p>\n