The Financial Times reported on Wednesday (Nov 30) that Alibaba founder Jack Ma has been residing in Tokyo for over six months after withdrawing from public view following China’s crackdown on the tech sector.
The tycoon has kept a quiet profile since the crackdown, which has included Chinese regulators cancelling Ma’s Ant Group’s IPO and fining Alibaba unprecedented amounts.
However, according to the Financial Times, he has spent much of the last six months with his family in Tokyo and other regions of Japan, as well as travels to the United States and Israel.
According to the British newspaper, Ma has visited many exclusive members’ clubs in Tokyo and has become a “enthusiastic collector” of Japanese modern art, in addition to considering expanding his business interests into sustainability.
Ma has been observed in several countries since he vanished from public notice in China, including on the Spanish island of Mallorca last year.
In recent years, Chinese officials have targeted alleged anti-competitive tactics by some of the country’s largest companies, spurred by concerns that major Internet corporations have too much data and have grown too swiftly.
According to a July report, Ma intended to hand over management of Ant Group in order to please Chinese regulators and restart the digital payments unit’s initial public offering.
His e-commerce behemoth Alibaba reported flat sales growth for the first time in August, as China grappled with an economic downturn and surging COVID-19 cases.
US regulators have placed the business on a watchlist, which could result in its delisting from the New York Stock Exchange if it fails to comply with transparency orders, leading its shares to plummet.