Chinese media denied rumors that billionaire Jack Ma was arrested

Billionaire Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce group Alibaba – Photo: REUTERS

On May 3, China’s CCTV caused a stir with information that police in the city of Hangzhou, home of Alibaba, arrested a person surnamed Ma on April 25. This person is accused of participating in activities that threaten national security. The initial report of this station said that the name of the person arrested had only 2 letters.

Immediately the news caused investors to flee and Alibaba’s shares on the same day fell 9.4%, equivalent to a loss of $ 26 billion.

Alibaba shares rebounded after CCTV revised the report with information clarified by Hangzhou police: the name of the person arrested had 3 letters. Mr. Jack Ma, whose Chinese name is Ma Yun (Ma Van), has a full name of only 2 letters.

Sheet Global Times (Global Times) later added that the person being questioned was a hardware research director of a Chinese technology company.

Alibaba Group and Mr. Ma’s Ant Group (under Alibaba) have not yet responded to this rumor. The Chinese billionaire was “hidden” after Chinese authorities suspended Ant Group’s $37 billion initial public offering (IPO) plan in 2020. From then on Today, the value of Alibaba Group has decreased by 66%.

According to the estimate of ForbesJack Ma’s fortune is about 24.3 billion USD and he is the 9th richest person in China.

Although the case has been clarified, observers said that the reaction of investors to the rumor showed insecurity about the future of this group.

The fact that China recently signaled that it would relax the “suppression” of the technology sector to promote reform and development after COVID-19 could not calm concerns.