Chinese e-tycoon Jack Ma ends silence with online video
Beijing: China's highest-profile entrepreneur, e-commerce billionaire Jack Ma, appeared on Wednesday in a video posted online, ending a 2 1/2-month disappearance from public view that prompted speculation about his status and his business empire's future.
In the 50-second video, Ma congratulated teachers supported by his charitable foundation and made no mention of his absence from public view and scrutiny of his Alibaba Group and Ant Group by regulators.
The video appeared on Chinese business news and other websites.
Normally voluble and press-friendly, Ma was last seen in public after criticising financial regulators in an October 24 speech at a Shanghai conference. Days later, regulators suspended Ant's planned multibillion-dollar stock market debut.
That prompted speculation on the internet about whether Ma, China's biggest global business celebrity and a symbol of its tech boom, had been detained or might face legal trouble.
Some people suggested the ruling Communist Party was making an example of Ma to show entrepreneurs couldn't defy regulators. But finance experts said President Xi Jinping's government already was uneasy about Alibaba's dominance in retailing and Ant's potential financial risks before Ma's speech.
Anti-monopoly regulators warned executives of Alibaba and five other tech giants in December not to use their dominance to block new competitors from entering their markets. The central bank and other regulators have ordered Ant to overhaul its business before its market debut can go ahead.
Ma, who used to be an English teacher and founder of #Alibaba, also gives wishes to village teachers via a video on Wednesday, saying usually the activity is held in Sanya in southern Hainan but this year, due to #Covid19 it has to be done via video conference. pic.twitter.com/yfi7oPB5Sb
— Qingqing_Chen (@qingqingparis) January 20, 2021
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If not in politics, would have probably done entrepreneurship in aerospace: Rahul Gandhi
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that if he was not in politics, he would probably be doing some entrepreneurship in the aerospace world.
Rahul was responding to a query during a dialogue with the Information Technology (IT) Fraternity at Technopark here.
He said he has been defined as a politician by many, but he actually does a lot of other things.
Rahul, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said he was of the view that calling someone a politician, technocrat, techie or engineer were "constricting definitions".
"If I was not working for a political organisation, I would probably be doing some entrepreneurship, probably in the aerospace world. I am a pilot, so was my father and also my uncle. So, we have that little strain," he said.
"We should be curious about everything. You should have an open mind to everything and that is when you start to connect the dots," the LoP, who is on a two-day visit to Kerala, added.
VIDEO | Trivandrum, Kerala: During interaction with IT professionals, Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) says, "If not in politics would have done entrepreneurship in aerospace, I am a pilot, so was my father."
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 7, 2026
(Full video available on… pic.twitter.com/WVYMpGkQmi
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