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The Mysterious Disappearance of China’s Wealthiest Man

Dr. Munr Kazmir
3 min readJan 5, 2021

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Where is Jack Ma?

Jack Ma speaks at the Enabling E-commerce” Launch event, 11 December 2017. Photo: © WTO/ Cuika Foto

“Where is Jack Ma?”

Billionaire Jack Ma, one of China’s richest men and the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba has not been seen in public for two months. Concerns have been raised that he might be missing.

Ma’s mysterious disappearance came after he called for economic reform during an Oct. 24 speech in Shanghai of what he called an “old people’s club,” according to a report from Yahoo Finance.

“Today’s financial system is the legacy of the Industrial Age,” Ma said during the speech. “We must set up a new one for the next generation and young people. We must reform the current system.”

According to an English transcript published in the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, Ma also offered a light criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“President Xi once said, ‘success does not have to hinge on me.’ I understand this saying as describing a kind of responsibility… However, real innovation must be trailblazing and undertaken by those with commitment. For innovation must entail mistakes,” Ma said.

Soon after this speech, Chinese Communist Party regulators launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba and called Ant Group, Alibaba’s financial affiliate, in for…

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