Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma has made his first public appearance after close to three months of being out of the spotlight.
Ma has been out of the spotlight since October after making remarks against Chinese authorities of hampering innovation and criticized the country’s financial regulators particularly banks for having a “pawn shop” mentality.
After the billionaire’s remarks, state regulators summoned Ma and Ant executives to a meeting and then shelved the scheduled IPO of Ant Group which is supposed to be the biggest public offering in the world.
On Wednesday, Ma was seen on state media video speaking to teachers in rural China as part of a philanthropic event by his foundation.
The Chinese billionaire met 100 rural teachers via a video meeting released by Tianmu News, a subsidiary of the Zhejiang state’s official newspaper as part of the Jack Ma Public Welfare Foundation.
With his appearance, shares of Alibaba at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange increased by 8%.
Ma’s whereabouts have been the focus of new and speculations earlier this month, when he missed the recording of Africa’s Business Heroes, a television show on which he was a judge.
In the video published by Tianmu News on Wednesday, Jack Ma is shown interacting with teachers via video meet that the traditional in-person celebration for the teaching initiative had been canceled because of Covid-19.
“We’ll meet again after the epidemic is over,” Ma said in the video. It also showed footage of Ma that it said was taken during a visit to an elementary school in Hangzhou earlier this month.
Chinese authorities have placed Ma’s firms Alibaba and Ant Group in the past weeks on intense scrutiny.
In December, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation opened an investigation into Alibaba over monopolistic practices. Beijing is also finalizing details of a wide-sweeping anti-monopoly law.
Regulators also asked Ant Group to rectify its business and comply with regulatory requirements. China is pushing through new rules on so-called microlending, which included provisions such as capital requirements for technology firms offering loans.
Chinese authorities have also raised concern about the power of its tech companies that have managed to grow, largely unencumbered, over the past few years and have become key parts of everyday life in China. Jack Ma is a founder and key shareholder of Ant Group, China’s biggest payments provider.
Read More Stories: Microsoft Invests $2 Billion in GM’s Self-driving Car Firm Cruise
