£35m boss of Alibaba ‘lying low’ after bid to be China’s richest man blocked

The multi-millionaire behind Amazon rival Alibaba is “lying low” after his £26billion stock market floatation was blocked by Chinese regulators last year.

Jack Ma, 56, disappeared from the spotlight around Christmas, after his IPO listing was rejected – a move that would have made him China’s richest man.

Chinese online marketplace Alibaba was due to float as part of his digital payments company Ant Group – which also runs payment rival AliPay. The listing was set to be worth about £26.5bn.

But the transaction was halted by Chinese regulators at the eleventh hour, citing “major issues” over regulating the company.

It is believed Mr Ma’s outspoken criticism of the Chinese financial sector in October had triggered the decision.

At a financial technology conference, he had compared traditional banks to “pawn shops”, adding that future lending decisions should be based on data, not collateral.

Following the suspension, China announced an antitrust probe into Alibaba, which is China’s largest e-commerce platform.

This culminated in Alibaba being fined $2.8billion by Chinese regulators in April, who accused it of abusing its market position for years.

And two days later, Ant Group announced a drastic restructuring plan, with regulators forcing it to act more like a bank than a tech firm.

Joe Tsai, who co-founded the Chinese e-commerce giant with Mr Ma, told CNBC he speaks to him every day.

“He’s actually doing very, very well. He’s taken up painting as a hobby, it’s actually pretty good,” said Mr Tsai.

Mr Tsai said: “The idea that Jack has this enormous amount of power, I think that’s not quite right,” he said. “He is just like you and me, he’s a normal individual.”

He added that after all his efforts, Mr Ma now just wanted to focus on the things he really wanted to spend time on, like philanthropy work and hobbies.

He said the business continues to adapt and move forward.

“I think you have to separate what’s happening to Jack and what’s happening to our business,” he said.

“Our business is under some kind of restructuring on the financial side of things, and also in antitrust regulation.

“We had to pay a big fine. But we’ve gotten that behind us, so we’re looking forward.”