SHANGHAI (CHINA) – Bringing an end to speculation about his whereabouts, Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma spoke to 100 rural teachers in China via a live teleconference on Wednesday morning. It is his first appearance since October, triggering a spike in the Hong Kong listed shares of the e-commerce behemoth.
There was much speculation about his whereabouts on social media after he failed to appear in the final episode of a TV show featuring him as a judge. This came amid a regulatory clampdown by Beijing authorities on his business empire.
After he flayed the regulatory system of the country on October 24 at a Shanghai forum, Ma has not been seen in public. The criticism set him on a collision course with officials and it led to the suspension of a $37-billion IPO of Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Group.
It was Zhejiang Online’s Tianmu News that first reported Ma had spoken with teachers via a live video conference on Wednesday.
According to the Jack Ma Foundation, the entrepreneur took part in the online event of the annual Rural Teacher Initiative on Wednesday.
Alibaba’s shares listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange spiked more than 6% after reports came about his appearance, compared with a 0.64% rise in the Hang Seng index.
His appearance comes at a time when Alibaba plans to raise at least $5 billion through the sale of a US dollar-denominated bond this month.
