The billionaire founder of the e-commerce site AlibabaJack Ma, who has kept a low profile since criticizing Chinese authorities in 2020, was photographed at a popular street restaurant and at a Thai boxing match in Bangkok.
“Incredibly humbled, we are honored to welcome you and your family Jay Fais“, says the Instagram account of the famous street restaurant Jay FaiŽs this Friday along with a photo of the Chinese businessman with the founder of the company.
The photo was posted a few hours ago and accumulates more than 9,000 likes and a hundred comments, although it is not clear when it was taken.
According to “Lifestyle Asia” magazine, Ma was also photographed in a Muay Thai boxing match at the famous Rajadamnern Stadium together with the Muay Thai champion Buakaw Banchamek.
Jack Ma dared in 2020 to criticize the Chinese bureaucracy, but turned low-key after authorities retaliated by aborting the IPO of Alibaba’s fintech subsidiary Ant Financial. Its whereabouts have since begun to be a mystery.
The Chinese tycoon, speculated to have been arrested last May, then denied, spent a holiday in Spain in 2021, according to the Hong Kong newspaper “The Standard”, and last year he spent several months in Japan, according to the newspaper of Hong Kong “The Standard”. to the “Financial Times”.
Beijing has allowed the tech sector to grow without much regulation for years, but in 2020 cAn election campaign has begun which has led to sanctions for several companies in the sector.
Among them was Alibaba, which was hit with a hefty 18.2 billion yuan ($2.818 billion) antitrust fine, the largest of its kind in the country’s history.
Who is Jack Ma?
The 52-year-old executive has a fortune valued at around $30.6 billion, which puts him 59th on the list of billionaires in 2022.
The tycoon was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang on September 10, 1964, and he started learning English at an early agechatting with English speakers at the Hangzhou hotel, a 40-minute bike ride from her home.
Although his real name is Ma Yun, this self-taught entrepreneur has taken to calling himself “Jack” to offer his hobby guide services to tourists. He graduated from university in 1988 as an English teacher, and had already started his own translation agency by then.
In 1995 he founded his first company, dedicated to designing websites for Chinese companies, considered a sort of “Gold Pages” China.
In 1999, he and a group of friends launched two business-to-business websites at the age of 35: one in EnglishAlibaba.com, the other in Chinese, Alibaba.com.cn.
Confident that Chinese companies needed a place in the market to introduce their products to foreign buyers, Alibaba initially matched SMEs with wholesalers.
Then he created a platform where companies sell to the public (Tmall) and another between consumers (Taobao). Elsewhere, people search Google and reach out to sellers; but the Chinese usually go directly to Taobao, without using search engines like Baidu.
In 2014, the company carried out the largest IPO in the United States, raising $21.8 billion with its public offering of shares, each worth US$68.
Source: Clarin
Linda Price is a tech expert at News Rebeat. With a deep understanding of the latest developments in the world of technology and a passion for innovation, Linda provides insightful and informative coverage of the cutting-edge advancements shaping our world.