Chinese billionaire Jack Ma (馬雲), founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), is to step down as president of the elite business school he founded after having been caught in a Beijing clampdown on tech titans, the Financial Times reported Monday.
Ma, formerly one of China’s most flamboyant entrepreneurs, has largely disappeared from public view since Alibaba’s fintech arm was investigated and fined by regulators for alleged monopolistic practices.
The Financial Times report cited sources as saying that Hupan University — an elite academy for Chinese business executives established in Ma’s hometown of Hangzhou in 2015 — has changed its name and would restructure its curriculum.
Photo: Reuters
Ma is not to hold a high-level title at the restructured organization, the report said, as Beijing seeks to limit his influence.
“Hupan is like an elite community, it’s one of [the authorities’] main targets,” a person who worked with Ma was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.
Videos on Chinese social media earlier this month showed construction workers using a blowtorch to remove characters from a large “Hupan University” sign.
The Financial Times last month reported the university was forced to suspend new student enrolments after pressure from Beijing to dismantle Ma’s fintech empire.
In a series of blows for the group, Alibaba was last month fined a record 18.2 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) by antitrust authorities, and its fintech arm, Ant Group Co (螞蟻集團), was ordered to restructure after a planned listing was scuppered.
Alibaba’s reprimand is believed to have been triggered by a speech that Ma gave in October last year, in which he criticized state financial institutions for being outdated.
The crackdown has since widened to include many of Alibaba’s competitors in China’s ballooning tech sector.
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