SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma has been omitted from a list of Chinese entrepreneurial leaders published by the state media – the disapproving voice underscores how far he has fallen out of favor with Beijing.
China’s most famous businessman was not named in a front page article of 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 also report its latest quarterly results. The e-commerce giant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The catalyst for Ma’s current woes was an Oct. 24 speech in which he destroyed China’s regulatory system, leading to the suspension of his $ 37 billion Ant Group IPO just days before the fintech giant’s listing.
Regulators have since launched an antitrust investigation into the tech sector with Alibaba absorbing much of the heat, while also considering tougher regulations for Ant Group.
Ma, not known for staying out of the spotlight, then disappeared from the public eye for about three months, sparking frenzied speculation about his whereabouts. He reappeared last month with a 50 second video appearance.
The Shanghai Securities News said that while some of the entrepreneurs it praised had once behaved like “reckless heroes” in their efforts to break from an old, rigid economic system, they were now leading “a group of companies that followed the rules of development and adhered to market rules. “
Reporting by Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Edwina Gibbs