SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma has been left out of the list of Chinese business leaders published by state media.
China’s best-known businessman was not mentioned in a front-page article published by Shanghai Securities News. Instead, Ren Zhengfei of Huawei Technologies, Lei Jun of Xiaomi Corp and Wang Chuanfu of BYD were praised for their contributions.
It was released on Tuesday when Alibaba will also report on its latest quarterly earnings. The e-commerce giant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The catalyst for Ma’s current problems was a speech on October 24 in which China’s regulatory system exploded, leading to the suspension of the $ 37 billion IPO of its Ant group a few days ago. before the list of the fintech giant.
Since then, regulators have launched an antitrust probe into the technology sector, with Alibaba taking up much of the heat, while stricter regulations are also being considered for the Ant group.
Ma, who is not known to have escaped the light, subsequently disappeared from public view for about three months, causing frantic speculation about his whereabouts. He reappeared last month with a 50-second video appearance.
The Shanghai Securities News said that while some of the businessmen he praised had behaved like “reckless heroes” in their efforts to break away from an old, rigid economic system, they now ran a group of companies that complied with the rules of complying with market rules “.
Brenda Goh Reports; Additional reports by Josh Horwitz; Edited by Edwina Gibbs