Ali baba founder Jack Ma missing since October following conflict with Jinping

Speculation is rife about Chinese billionaire Jack Ma going ‘missing’ as he hasn’t been seen in public for nearly two months. According to reports, the founder of Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba Group was under the scrutiny of the Chinese government, after the country’s market watchdog began investigation last week into alleged anti-competition practices by Alibaba.

There has been no sign of him since late October when the Alibaba-owned Ant Group’s $37 billion stock debut in Shanghai and Hong Kong was halted by China over regulatory changes.  Chinese regulators pulled what would have been the world’s largest initial public offering just two days before its scheduled debut in November.

Soon after, it was reported that Ma and other senior executives of the company were summoned by Chinese regulators for talks. Ever since, the billionaire, who was once the Chinese government’s poster boy and Asia’s richest, has gone incommunicado.

Imaginations soared high as the former English teacher was suddenly replaced as a judge on the final of Africa’s Business Heroes, a Dragons’ Den-style TV contest for budding entrepreneurs, with speculations rife that the Chinese government might be behind his disappearance. His photograph was then removed from the judging panel’s web page and he was later left out of a promotional video.

The father of three had earlier tweeted that he “couldn’t wait” to meet all the contestants. A spokesperson for Alibaba said: “Due to a schedule conflict Mr Ma could no longer be part of the finale judge panel of Africa’s Business Heroes earlier this year.”

The final took place just weeks after Ma made a speech slamming China’s regulators and its state-owned banks.