SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma has been left on a list of Chinese business leaders published by state media.
China’s best-known businessman was not mentioned in a front-page article published by Shanghai Securities News. Instead, Ren Zhengfei of Huawei Technologies, Lei Jun of Xiaomi Corp and Wang Chuanfu of BYD were praised for their contributions.
It was released on Tuesday, when Alibaba will report its latest quarterly earnings. The e-commerce giant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The catalyst for Ma’s current problems was a speech on October 24 in which China’s regulatory system exploded, leading to the suspension of its $ 37 billion IPO a few days before the fintech giant was listed.
Since then, regulators have launched an antitrust probe into the technology sector, with Alibaba taking over much of the heat, while stricter regulations are being considered for the Ant Group.
Ma, who is not known to have strayed from the spotlight, subsequently disappeared from public view for about three months, sparking frantic speculation about where she was. He reappeared last month with a 50-second video.
Shanghai Securities News said that while some of the entrepreneurs he praised once behaved as “reckless heroes” in their efforts to break away from an old, rigid economic system, they have now led “a group of companies that respect development rules followed market rules. ”
Reporting by Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Josh Horwitz; Edited by Edwina Gibbs