Alibaba founder Jack Ma heads to Spain after resurfacing in Hong Kong
Local | 19 Oct 2021 11:46 am
Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma Yun headed to Spain to vacation on his HK$1.6 billion yacht, after he was recently spotted in Hong Kong meeting with business partners.
Ma has been largely out of public view since a regulatory clampdown started on his business empire late last year, but he was spotted in Hong Kong early this month.
According to The Standard’s sister publication East Week, Ma had flown to Spain on his private jet in the early hours on Saturday, along with his billionaire friends and business partners.
It was understood the group then boarded Ma’s HK$1.6 billion yacht, Zen, in Ibiza to go on a sailing vacation.
Highly-placed sources also told the publication that Ma had a tight schedule during his stay in Hong Kong, attending dinner gatherings one after another. Ma was also said to have played golf with close friends at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling.
Due to confidentiality restrictions, the source declined to be named.
Since a speech criticizing China’s financial regulators in Shanghai last October, the Chinese billionaire has kept a low profile. This triggered a series of events that led to the shelving of its large IPO of Ant Group.
Although Ma’s public appearances in mainland China have been limited since then, speculation about his whereabouts continue to emerge, and the source said that this visit was his first visit to an Asian financial center since October last year.
Prior to this visit, the former English teacher had surfaced in January when he disappeared from public view for the three months after the speech, and spoke with a group of teachers via video. This eased people’s concerns about his unusual absence and pushed Alibaba’s stock price to soar.
