Jack Ma’s decision to remain outside of China was communicated to Bloomberg

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma chose to stay abroad, despite invitations from the country’s authorities and their assurances of “unwavering support” for the private sector. Chinese authorities have made unsuccessful attempts to persuade Ma to return and help demonstrate government support to the business community. transmits Bloomberg citing sources familiar with the matter.

According to the interlocutors of the agency, Ma decided to stay abroad. He stated that he stepped away from managing his companies to focus on agricultural technology research. In internal discussions, Ma told Ant and Alibaba executives not to focus on his return to China, the sources said. He noted that he is committed to their success even at a distance.

As China’s leader Xi Jinping consolidates power and refocuses his attention on the economy, the country’s new leaders are determined to create a business-friendly image. The very absence of Ma from China risks becoming a symbol of the mistrust that entrepreneurs and global investors have for Beijing, while Premier Li Qiang has declared “unwavering support” for private business. “Public messages support entrepreneurship, but strong state control and ideology still don’t help it,” said Christopher Marquis, co-author of Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise.

“Business is still under party control,” he added. “The government’s approach is still to prioritize party and state institutions,” said George Magnus, author of Red Flags: Why China Xi is in Danger. Private firms are allowed to develop “provided they pursue and respect the goals and philosophy of the party,” he said.

Ant is still planning to go public, but not in 2023, according to people familiar with the situation. Ant’s international features include a transaction network that facilitates cross-border payments between a range of digital wallets in a wide range of countries. These features have the potential to raise funding on their own, the people said, adding plans are still tentative and subject to change.

The company is also focused on reviewing its operations to appease regulators. Ma said he would relinquish control of Ant in January, cutting his voting rights to just 6.2%. Fidelity Investments cut its valuation of Ant to around $64 billion at the end of November last year. Ma also resigned as head of the entrepreneurs’ association in Ant’s home province of Zhejiang.

In 2020, Chinese authorities canceled what could have been the world’s largest IPO by Ant Group at the last minute, and Alibaba then received a record fine. In November 2022, the Financial Times reported, citing sources, that Jack Ma had left China and was living in Tokyo. According to the newspaper’s interlocutors, after moving to Tokyo, Ma minimized his social activities. Jack Ma’s fortune is estimated at $23.9 billion, follows from rating Forbes Real-Time, which is updated in real time depending on quotes.