After his reappearance, Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares went up by 8.5%. The Chinese billionaire made his public appearance on Wednesday. (SEE Video: Davos 2015 - An Insight An Idea with Jack Ma - A conversation with Jack Ma, Founder and the then Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, on leadership, entrepreneurship and the future of commerce: Interviewed by Charlie Rose, Anchor, CBS News, USA)

HONG KONG, Jan 22: Alibaba founder Jack Ma has resurfaced. His whereabouts were not known to the public for about three months.

The Chinese billionaire made his public appearance on Wednesday last, speaking at an online philanthropic event. He had disappeared after Beijing began a crackdown on his business empire. The regulators had blocked the flotation of his Ant Group after he gave a speech that angered them, it is said. The record initial public offerings of fintech firm Ant Group were stopped. Besides, China's antitrust regulator launched a probe into the business practices of e-commerce giant Alibaba too.

As he reappeared, Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares went up by 8.5%. It is reported that Ma is back in Beijing's good books once again. Alibaba presents millions of products to source.

Tailpiece: On certain occasion Jack Ma had said his application for admission was rejected by Harvard University 10 times. “I applied for Harvard ten times, got rejected ten times and I told myself that 'Someday I should go teach there,'” he said. In 2002, he gave a speech at Harvard. The key to success is not to let rejection keep you down, according to Ma.