Jack Ma’s First Public Appearance In Months Brings $58 Billion

Jack Ma appeared in less than a minute and said nothing about the recent moves of the Chinese government that pushed his empire into the biggest crisis ever.

However, for investors who have been waiting for months to see Jack Ma, the appearance of the famous businessman in the live-stream yesterday was enough for them to feel secure.

After a video of Jack Ma chatting with a group of teachers began to go viral on social media, marking his first public appearance since his mysterious disappearance late last year, Alibaba’s capitalization has increased another $58 billion.

Jack Ma’s future remains unknown. But, analysts say it is a sign that the worst scenarios like Ma being arrested or the government taking over his companies are unlikely to happen. Ma would not be able to attend such an event without the government’s approval. And traditional state agencies including The Global Times also published some excerpts of Ma’s talk or mentioned his appearance.

In addition, Ma’s speech is about philanthropy issues, including the importance of narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor and revitalizing rural China. These are two major priorities for the Chinese Communist Party.

This contrasts with Ma’s criticism of the state-owned banking system and regulators in October.

At the moment, the issue that investors are most concerned with is how tightly Beijing will control the management of Ant, Alibaba, and other technology companies.

Just hours after Ma reappeared, China’s Central Bank announced a bill aiming at reducing the monopoly of the online payments market, a move that further makes it difficult for Ant and its rival Tencent. But this still in line with the campaign to tighten the management of the big technology giants that Beijing considers dominating the economy.

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