Alibaba Group founder and CEO Jack Ma has made his first public appearance since October.
The 56- year-old Chinese billionaire resurfaced on Wednesday morning in a video published online by Tianmu News, a subsidiary of the Zhejiang government’s official newspaper.
Tianmu News first reported that Ma had met with the teachers via a live video conference on Wednesday during an annual event he hosts to recognize the rural educators.
“During this period of time, my colleagues and I have been studying and thinking, and we have become more determined to devote ourselves to education and public welfare,” he said in the video.
Social media speculation over the whereabouts of China’s highest-profile entrepreneur intensified early January after reports emerged that he had gone missing after failing to appear in the final episode of a TV show in which he was featured as a judge.
The billionaire has been facing a regulatory clampdown by Chinese authorities on his vast business empire.
Ma last appeared in public on October 24, 2020 and blasted China’s regulators in a speech at a Shanghai forum that set him on a collision course with the authorities.
The tiff with regulators saw his $37-billion IPO for Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Group suspended.
According to CNN, Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares surged by more than 6 percent following the reports of his reappearance.
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