Jack Ma’s skirmish with Beijing may have pushed him out of the public spotlight – but that didn’t stop him from taking to the skies.
A new report said that they roamed freely at the beginning of the year in China, according to estimates by the founder of billionaire Alibaba – whose total assets are $ 61.4 billion.
The 56-year-old Ma slowed down China’s regulatory system in an October speech, apparently angering Beijing officials, which later halted the initial public offering of his payment firm Ant Group.
Their unusual public absence allegedly led some observers to wonder whether they had gone missing, fled the country or were placed under house arrest.
But Ma actually remains in China, using his own private Gulfstream jet, trying to smooth things over with the country’s regulators. Financial Times report
Friday.
The newspaper obtained flight records showing that Ma traveled once a week in January and February, mainly to Beijing and Hainan Island, where he was seen playing golf in recent months.
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. The deal is reportedly agreed upon but officials have not announced it publicly.
The Financial Times says that Ma’s journey has slowed considerably compared to months before his battle with Beijing, when he was flying once every three days.
Neither Alibaba, the giant e-commerce company Ma co-founded, nor their charitable foundation immediately responded to requests for comment.
Alibaba’s US-listed stock fell 4.6 percent after Ant Group, which is affiliated with Alibaba – Announced Its CEO Simon Hu stepped down.
With post wires
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