Alibaba shares jump after Jack Ma's first appearance in three months surfaces online

On January 20, Alibaba's stock market value jumped providing the Chinese firm $58 billion relief after a live-streamed video of the entrepreneur Jack Ma resurfaced online. The billionaire business mogul made his first public appearance in nearly three months when the Hong-Kong listed stocks were soaring. Alibaba’s CEO was seen speaking to the rural school teachers in the videos aired by state-run Chinese media outlets. Ma, a hardcore critic of Chinese regulators and the communist regime, had gone missing since October 24 after attracting flak for speaking about financial freedom to Chinese businesses. This led to the suspension of Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Group’s $37 billion initial public offerings. 

According to Bloomberg’s analysis, after Ma appeared in a video, talking to the teachers, the Hong Kong-listed stock prices of Alibaba surged by 8.5 per cent. Alibaba's market cap jumped by $58 billion, 5.5 per cent, closing at 265.49 on the New York Stock Exchange. Some firms impacted were China’s JD.com (JD), Tencent Holdings (TCEHY), Pinduoduo (PDD), and Baidu (BIDU). JD.com leaped 4.6 per cent to 95.31, another firm Baidu climbed only 4.2 per cent to 260.90. Shares of Tencent Holdings Ltd climbed to 2.5% to 88.07 and Pinduoduo’s up to 1.3 per cent to 170.96. Meanwhile, Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong trended the highest ever since April 2019, and Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index reached its highest level in three years. China’s Ministry of Commerce reported online retail sales value of goods jumped 14.8 per cent to $1.5 trillion. 

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Ma was 'laying low’

Earlier, last week, the Chairman of personal fairness agency Primavera Group, said that Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who had disappeared along with four other Chinese billionaires was ‘safe and sound’. The business tycoon went missing after he made disparaging statements against Communist-ruled China’s government and was reported off the radar with speculations of unlawful arbitrary arrest by the Chinese government. Ma’s remarks had the preliminary public providing IPO of Ant Group terminated on November 3 and he was summoned by the PRC’s communist party members over Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s CEO’s critical statements against the Chinese authorities. ‘He is laying low’, Bloomberg reported Fred Hu as saying, Ma had visited the Alibaba executives in early 2019 once. 

Read: Amid Jack Ma's Disappearance Rumours, Look Back At His Journey From Teacher To Billionaire

Read: Where Is Jack Ma? A Look At Jack Ma's Massive Net Worth As He Is Suspected Missing