The rise and fall of Jack Ma

Jack Ma used to give rock star performances for his employees at Alibaba, Asia’s biggest online commerce company. He once dressed as Michael Jackson. But those halcyon days are gone. Over the last year, China’s richest man has had his wings clipped by the Chinese Communist party. The flamboyant Ma has only made a handful of public appearances (prompting rumours of a ‘disappearance’ at the hands of the CCP). This week, it transpired that Alibaba has almost halved in value — losing a record $373 billion over just the last 12 months.

Ma’s downfall can be traced back to a misjudged speech he made in Shanghai this time last year. ‘The game in the future is about innovation, not just regulatory skills… We cannot regulate the future with yesterday’s means’, he said, clearly taking aim at China’s regulators who were targeting the country’s new financial technology giants (including Ma’s own, Ant Group).