Alibaba founder Jack Ma hiding in Tokyo amid China's crackdown on star tech firms: Reports

Alibaba founder Jack Ma hiding in Tokyo amid China's crackdown on star tech firms: Reports

Beijing struck back by stopping his IPO and even summoned Ma and Ant executives to a meeting.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has been hiding in Japan's Tokyo with his family amid China's crackdown on star tech firms and its most powerful and wealthy business people, latest reports say.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma hiding in Tokyo amid China's crackdown on star tech firms: Reports
Jack Ma intends to give up control of the Ant Group: Wall Street Journal

Jack Ma is known for his charismatic and outspoken nature, but he may have pushed the boundaries too far during an October 24 event, where he criticised Chinese regulators for stifling innovation.

During the conference in Shanghai, Ma had even compared Chinese banks with pawn shops. To sum it up, just a month before Ma's Ant Group was about to launch the world's biggest IPO, he went ahead and directly criticised the Chinese government, or the ruling Communist Party.

Beijing struck back by stopping his IPO and even summoned Ma and Ant executives to a meeting. The regulators have also asked for restructuring Ant Group's business. The development has already cost Ma billions of dollars.

On Tuesday the Financial Times, which is owned by the Japanese media company Nikkei, revealed Ma has most recently been living in Japan.

Citing anonymous sources, the paper said that for almost six months the former English teacher turned tech superstar has been living in Tokyo with his family. His time has been spent mixing business and pleasure with visits to onsen (hot springs) and ski resorts in the Japanese countryside as well as regular trips to the US and Israel.

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