By Elishya Perera
SHANGHAI (CU)_Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma has made his first public appearance in months after vanishing from public view, quashing intense speculation over his whereabouts.
Earlier this month, reports surfaced that the billionaire had not made a public appearance in more than two months following Chinese regulators cracked down on his business empire.
The tech mogul met 100 rural teachers in China, via a video meeting on Wednesday (Jan 20), according to local media reports, and the news prompted Alibaba shares to surged 5% on Hong Kong’s stock exchange.
According to Tianmu News, the first media outlet to report on the virtual meeting, Ma had addressed the teachers as part of one of his charity foundation’s initiatives.
Later, a video circulated online, in which the famous Chinese entrepreneur can be seen touring a primary school in his hometown of Hangzhou. The authenticity of the video, which was first posted on an online blog, has been confirmed by Ant, but the firm declined to comment further.
In November last year, the authorities in Beijing took down the Ant public offering on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges, which was expected to be the world’s largest IPO in 2020. Subsequently in December, China’s central bank hauled in executives from the Group founded by Ma, and ordered a major shake-up of the company’s operations.
Suspicions about Ma’s whereabouts were raised earlier this month, when he failed to appear in the finale of his own talent show Africa’s Business Heroes, although Alibaba attributed his absence to a scheduling conflict.
