Jack Ma took multiple trips to Beijing after Ant IPO fiasco: report

蘋果日報 2021/03/15 06:37


Alibaba founder Jack Ma traveled to Beijing multiple times after the suspended initial public offering of his company’s affiliate Ant Group, according to a study of flight records from his private jet.
Flight details of Ma’s jet dispelled rumors that he had fled to Singapore or been put under house arrest, the Financial Times reported. The paper obtained the jet’s flight logs and compiled them with data from Radarbox, a flight-tracking company.
Last November, Ant’s record US$37 billion initial public offering was scuttled by regulators following concerns that the group’s activities were affecting the stability of China’s financial system.
The IPO roadblock was also linked to a controversial speech Ma gave in October, where he criticized state-owned banks and Chinese regulators. Since the speech, Ma has made only one public appearance.
Ma flew to Beijing for a four-day stay right after he gave the speech. On Nov. 1, he flew to Beijing again from his home city of Hangzhou, and his Gulfstream jet was parked in the Chinese capital for two weeks.
On Christmas Day, Ma traveled to Beijing after Chinese regulators summoned Ant Group for a discussion on “financial supervision, fair competition and consumer protection.”
Ma’s schedule had a dramatic slowdown after October, with the 56-year-old only flying about once a week in January and February. His destinations were mainly Beijing and the tropical island resort of Hainan, where he had been spotted playing golf.
When Ant and regulators arrived at a restructuring plan at the end of January, Ma’s jet was back in Beijing.
Ma had been directly involved in negotiations over Ant Group’s future, with one source saying that Ma was going over the heads of regulators to plead his case with top Communist Party leaders.
Ma’s charitable foundation and Ant Group did not respond to the FT’s requests for comment.
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