the one of Jack Ma It has turned out to be a round trip worthy of a “made in China” Odyssey, with epic climbs, absences and resounding skids that have led to even more epic setbacks. All with the same starting and ending point, one that is especially curious in the case of a billionaire tycoon: the classrooms.
His name may ring a bell. Just like her face. After all, not so long ago he lavished himself on events and interviews as the former CEO and founder of the online commerce titan Alibaba. His success in business earned him the nickname “Yangtze crocodile”made him an inspiration to a generation of tech entrepreneurs and elevated him to the top of the list of fortunes of the Asian giant. He Financial Times was referring to him in 2021 as “China’s Jeff Bezos”.
Today all that is far away. And although Ma continues to accumulate a remarkable fortune, around 25.7 billion dollars, according to estimates published by the Hurun Institute at the end of 2022, its star is quite another. Some days ago it became news againbut for a reason that has little to do with boards of directors or stock market operations: he has just signed up for a university.
From boardrooms to college
From May 1 the once influential and powerful founder of Alibaba serves as a visiting professor at the Tokyo College, where he works as a consultant, researcher in fields such as sustainable agriculture and food production and gives seminars. The environment is not new to him. After achieve the title in the late 80s in Zhejiang and after a brief experience as a tour guide, Ma began his career precisely as Professor of English and international trade.
What is more shocking is to find a story like yours, that of a technological tycoon, an exponent of self made man that in a matter of a few years goes from the boardroom tables of a thriving multinational to the classroom. And it is so because her case can only be understood in a very specific light: that of the complex and above all slippery Chinese business and technological dashboard.
In case you don’t remember, here is a brief summary.
For years Jack Ma (Ma Yun, actually) was one of those self-made tycoon stories that Silicon Valley loves. In the 90s he founded Chinese Pagesone of the first Internet companies in the country, and years later launched the alibaba group to facilitate small business operations. The bet paid off. Very good, in fact. So much so that in 2014 Alibaba debuted on the New York Stock Exchange raising almost 21.800 million of dollars during your initial sale of shares, a historic debut in the US technology sector.
in 2019 Ma left the presidency of Alibaba to make way, he assured, for “younger and more talented” people. At the age of 55, his life seemed to smile on him: he was the richest man in his country, a model for a generation of entrepreneurs and a charismatic manager who was recognized inside and outside of China. He still had important successes ahead of him, such as the IPO of AntGroupan Alibaba-affiliated financial services firm that he had founded years earlier.
In October 2020, at the gates of this historic operation, it was estimated that the fintech could raise $34.5 billion in its initial public offering. The figure was promised so insanely large that —At that time, the CNBC chain stood out— opted to sneak into the annals of the country’s economic history.
Ma seemed about to take on the world.
But he ended up choking.
Almost kicked off the table.
The former English teacher and Hangzhou tour guide, who had managed to survive in the Chinese business system, playing a role that analyst of the Financial Times Jamil Anderlini branded in 2021 of “pet capitalist”, unleashed the wrath of Beijing. Shortly before Ant Group’s historic appointment with the floor, Jack Ma publicly criticized the behavior of his country’s banks and regulators, whom he accused of stifling innovation because of their aversion to risk.
“What we need is to build a healthy financial system, not systemic financial risks. Innovating without risk is kill innovation. There is no risk-free innovation in the world”, proclaimed the co-founder of Alibaba and Ant Group during a conference in Shanghai. His words made headlines. And they probably twisted more than one gesture in the offices in Beijing. “There’s Only One Big Boss In China, And It’s Not Jack Ma” the analyst explained with irony Jeffrey Halley in statements collected by .
What happened? That not long after his statements, the regulators made a move to brake almost in extremis Ant Group’s initial public offering upon detecting “significant issues.” The move was made just a few days after the operation, amid international expectation and with the spotlight on Ma. Analysts were quick to link it to the tycoon’s statements and interpret the move as a warning to Chinese businessmen.
“There is a saying in China: ‘The highest nail is hammered down,'” explained Duncan Clark, author of ‘Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built’. And in 2020, with a heritage of 58.800 millionaccording to Hurum, Ma was a nail particularly outstanding among the Chinese business community. shortly before the authorities had published guidelines stressing among other things the need for “politically sensible people” in the private sector, open to the party.
The cancellation of Ant Group’s promising IPO was not the only move by the authorities. As part of a strict regulatory policy with the country’s technology giants, in 2021 Beijing came to impose a record fine of 18.2 billion yuan – equivalent to approximately 2.6 billion dollars – to Alibaba for an alleged abuse of market dominance. Another great in the sector, Didi Chuxingalso suffered the effects of severe scrutiny Chinese.
Ma himself ended up in a difficult position to imagine at the beginning of 2020, when he was still a charismatic figure, almost a businessman. showman whom it was not rare even to see on tv shows. His appearances were reduced to a minimum, he moved away from the spotlights under which he had felt so comfortable before, his whereabouts sparked speculation, chronicles were published which located it in Japan, Spain or the Netherlands and there was even -after seeing a short video of him, released in January 2021- who came to slide that he looked like a “hostage of the state”.
The great tycoon had fallen out of favor.
Earlier this year, he ceded power to Ant Group in a move that some analysts interpreted as an attempt to unblock the frustrated operation in 2020. His decision reduced his stake in the firm and —remember FT— paved the way for a possible listing in Hong Kong or Shanghai.
Months later, in March, coinciding with what could be the end of the intense campaign of regulatory pressure on the technology sector, Ma stopped seeing back in china during a visit to a school funded by Alibaba in your city. Not long after, the company announced its biggest restructuring.
Now grabs headlines again, although due to the new role that he will assume, one very different from the one he held just four years ago, and which places him as a star signing at Tokyo College. There in Japan has friendshe feels comfortable and seems able to focus on the educational and philanthropic endeavors that have focused much of his attention since he ceded control of Alibaba years ago.
Yours is perhaps one of the more emphatic examples of the Chinese billionaire who sees his image and career take a 180º turn practically overnight. The most popular may, but not the only one. Another clear case is that of Hui Ja Yan, president of the Evergrande Group, the gigantic Chinese real estate developer, who, coinciding with the real estate crisis, has seen his wealth deflating considerably, almost at the same rate as his political influence. .
Business odysseys “made in China”.
With unexpected script twists and interesting readings in a political key.
Images: World Trade Organization (Flickr)
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