His net worth plummeted by $12 billion in just two months after his controversial speech in October

Founder of Alibaba Group and Ant Group, Jack Ma, has not made a public appearance in more than two months. The Chinese billionare has not been seen since his controversial speech in October where he critisised China’s financial regulatory system at a conference in Shanghai. Ma stressed on the fact that yesterday’s regulatory methods can’t be used to regulate the future and referred to the global financial regulations used by China as “an old people’s club.”

Financial Times has reported that Ma was abruptly replaced as a judge on the final of the TV show he founded called Africa’s business heroes. An Alibaba spokesperson stated that Ma could no longer be on the judging panel for the grand finale of the show filmed in November due to a “scheduling conflict.” When asked for more information about Ma’s whereabouts, the spokesperson said that he didn’t have anything more to add beyond that.

In November authorities in China introduced new tighter regulations increasing scrutiny of Ma’s business empire. In late December, Chinese authorities launched an antitrust investigation into AliBaba, which is considered the “Amazon of China” and told Ant Group to restructure its operations. According to US veteran investor Mark Mobius, the new restrictions were put in place to curtail financial institutions from getting too big. CEO of debt-financing startup Capital, Blair Silverberg, told Business Insider that the new regulations in place were introduced “so the government can assert its supremacy over Jack Ma.’ Jack Ma was considered China’s richest man with a fortune reaching more than $60 billion. From when he was last seen, his fortune has taken a $12 billion hit and he is now worth $50.6 billion. According to Bloomberg Billionare index he is now the fourth-richest person in China. Guo Wengui, who claims to be a whistleblower exposing corruption in China, in a video interview Filmed on October 5, 2018 at an undisclosed location, about Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma stating that in the next year, Ma would likely end up dead or in jail because China wants to take back “Ma’s lucrative market.”

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