Reuters reported on Monday that Jack Ma, the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, was spotted in Hangzhou, the provincial capital of China’s Zhejiang (March 27). In the city of Hangzhou, he went to a school that he founded.
Following a flurry of activity on Chinese social media regarding Ma’s return, The South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, confirmed the story. The media outlet added that Jack Ma visited Hangzhou Yungu School to speak with professors and students. The story cites persons familiar with Ma’s schedule who provided information.
The business tycoon was essentially invisible in public during Beijing’s ruthless crackdown on the country’s technology sector after he criticized the Chinese regulators in 2020. Strong businessmen were targeted by the Chinese government, and Jack Ma also had legal issues for breaking anti-monopoly laws.
Jack Ma reportedly spent around six months in Tokyo with his family, according to reports from the previous year. Also, he was seen in various nations, including Spain and the Netherlands. Yet nobody knew for sure where he was.
The Yungu School’s official WeChat account reported that Ma, a former English teacher, spoke with school officials about ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, and expressed his desire to return to teaching in the future.
Jack Ma reportedly returned to China last week
Five sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters that Li Qiang, China’s new premier, had started pushing Jack Ma to return late last year after seeing the potential benefits of Ma’s return to the mainland for boosting business confidence among businesses. Li is President Xi Jinping’s trusted ally. Ma reportedly returned to China last week, according to two knowledgeable individuals, but there has been no official confirmation.
Ma also made a rare public appearance when he spoke about the challenges people would face in 2022 in a new year’s address.
In the video, which was seen online, Jack Ma said, “I hope to see you all offline as soon as possible”, a hint that he is in China and may be ready to return to public life again.” SCMP had reported that the video was verified by his charity foundation.