Jack Ma, the man who changed the fate of China as a leader in the e-Commerce sector forever, is speculated to be missing. The reports are rife due to his absence from any public appearance in over the last two months. The suspicion further deepened when Jack failed to appear as a judge in the final episode of his own talent show, Africa’s Business Heroes.

At the last moment, Jack was replaced by an Alibaba executive. According to Alibaba spokesperson, this last minute change was the result of Jack’s hectic schedule. But what raised the eyebrows were Jack’s picture missing from the event’s website.

Jack’s uncertain future comes at a time when Chinese authorities are tightening grip over his business empire allegedly after he criticized China’s regulation system last October for stifling innovation and likened global banking rules to an ‘old people’s club’. He said that, “Today’s financial system is the legacy of the industrial age. We must set up a new one for the next generation and young people. We must reform the current system”.

In fact, the Chinese regulators had earlier abruptly suspended Jack’s Ant Group’s $37 billion IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which was touted to be the world’s biggest IPO. The authorities also launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba in late December and told Ant Group to restructure its operations. And it is since then that the media-savvy public figure has not made any public appearance since then. The entire episode becomes more crucial given the fact that there have been a few billionaires in China who suddenly disappeared. However, few reappeared but others never returned.

China’s official news agency, Xinhua, announced in a single-sentence statement that ‘Acting on information, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has started an investigation on Alibaba Group for alleged monopoly conduct including implementing an exclusive dealing agreement”.

However, US veteran investor Mark Mobius said that the move was designed to curtail financial institutions for getting too big. CNBC quoted him, “I believe the Chinese government stepped in because they realized that they had to regulate these companies, so that they don’t …. get too big”. “The Chinese government is waking up to that fact that they cannot allow these companies that dominate a particular sector and particularly the financial sector”.

The Interesting Journey of Jack Ma
Born as Ma Yun, he would ride for 27 kilometers on his bicycle to give tourists tours of the areas to practice his English. However, he was nicknamed Jack as one of the pen pals found it hard to pronounce his Chinese name. Before starting his own company, he applied for 30 different jobs and was rejected by all. Apparently his ten application to Harvard Business School were also rejected every time.

The 56 years old Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist heard about internet the first time in 1994 and started his first company named Hangzhou Haibo Translation Agency. And since then, there was no looking back for him. In 1995, Jack along with his wife and friends, started a website called China yellow pages, and in 1999 Alibaba came into formation. It was started as China-based business-to-business marketplace site in his apartment. And within four years, Jack launched TaoBao and Alipay to counter ebay and Paypal in China.

However it took him over a decade to take his company Alibaba IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (2014). The same year, he topped China’s list of richest man and worth $19.5 billion. He also started a business school and the next year, he became Asia’s richest man with a net worth of $33.3 billion. Though he stepped down from the board of Alibaba, he continued his philanthropic work through his foundation Jack Ma Foundation focused on areas of education, entrepreneurship, female leadership and the environment.

In India, Alibaba has invested in Payments Company Paytm and its e-Commerce arm Paytm Mall, apart from investing in Zomato, BigBasket and Snapdeal and several others.