Jack Ma made his first public appearance after Alibaba was fined heavily.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma attended a video conference of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Geographical Society held by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (14), his first appearance since Alibaba was heavily fined 18.228 billion yuan by mainland Chinese authorities for allegedly “monopolizing” the market. The meeting was the first appearance of Alibaba after it was heavily fined 18.228 billion yuan by the Chinese authorities for alleged “monopoly”. (Fang Dehao reports)
The meeting lasted two hours, with Ma sitting in a room decorated in Chinese style with plum blossoms painted on the wall, and Ma, who used to be able to talk eloquently, did not say a word throughout, but only listened to other participants and delivered reports, occasionally picking up a cup of tea, according to the Russian news agency Sputnik.
Foreign news last week reported that Jack Ma as president of Lakeside University was also asked by the Chinese government to stop enrollment, Lakeside University in March this year, the first year of the new class has stopped teaching.
Jack Ma has been keeping a low profile since the Ant Group IPO hit the rocks last year, and his whereabouts have been a mystery, even though Alibaba was fined an astronomical amount and has remained silent.
Some reports indicate that Ma has close ties to Russia. When pneumonia ravaged the world last year, Ma donated 1 million masks and 200,000 test kits to Russia in March, and a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry described Ma as a “true friend.
Ma stepped down as chairman of Alibaba’s board of directors on Sept. 10, 2019, on the occasion of the company’s 20th anniversary and his birthday. At the Far Eastern Economic Forum entrepreneurs’ roundtable on Sept. 11, 2019, Putin interrupted the meeting midway to ask him directly, “Ma, why are you retiring so young?” Ma Mian replied at the time, “Mr. President, I’m not young, I happened to have my 54th birthday in Russia yesterday. I have been in business for 19 years and have done some things, but there are more things I love that I want to do, such as education and public welfare.”
Ma has made several trips to Russia in the past. At the Valdai Club’s annual meeting on Oct. 19, 2017, Putin was introducing Alibaba and described it as a “great company.” Ali has invested in Russia in recent years and has formed joint ventures with three of the country’s giants, including the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), mobile operator MegaFon, and Internet group Mail.ru, which signed an agreement to establish a Sino-Russian joint venture called AliExpress Russia), a Russian-Chinese joint venture.
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