An executive of the Chinese e-commerce giant claimed by saying Alibaba founder Jack Ma is “lying low” and has “taken up painting as a hobby”. “He’s lying low right now, I talk to him every day,” Joe Tsai, the company’s executive vice-chairman and Ma’s co-founder, was quoted as saying by CNBC. And according to the executive, he’s actually doing very, very well. He’s taken up painting as a hobby, it’s actually pretty good.
It has been a difficult year for Jack Ma since Beijing come down heavily on his company which was receiving barrage of criticism of China’s regulatory system. Chinese regulators suspended a planned $34.5bn initial public offering of Ant Group, a financial affiliate of Alibaba in last November before its trading debut.
According to the press report, the company had been valued at $150bn after a 2018 fundraising round, with value later increased to $280bn ahead of the IPO suspension.
