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.
