The return of Alibaba’s Jack Ma

Leading Chinese magnate Jack Ma returns to Chinese public life.

After criticising the Chinese regulatory system in October 2020, Jack Ma was withdrawn from the public eye. Having referred to the nation’s banks as having a “pawnshop mentality”, his critiques were regarded as a direct attack on the Chinese financial authorities. 

Alibaba, the conglomerate of which Jack Ma is a founder, was threatened with an antitrust investigation, and subsequently forced to pay out a $2.8 billion fine for monopolistic practices. 

Only recently was Ma invited to a convention with other prominent Chinese businessmen to discuss government support for private enterprises. This has occurred in the backdrop of growth deceleration in the Chinese economy and challenges in the estate market. 

Whilst China’s economy expanded by 5% in 2024, in line with government targets, this still reflects the slowest growth in decades. Forecasts suggest their previously meteoric growth could fall to 4.2% by 2026, as the Chinese property market continues to suffer and potential US tariffs threaten their exports. Efforts of local governments to purchase unsellable properties have done little to mitigate the decline of China’s ailing housing industry.

Whilst Deepseek has made an impact on the Artificial Intelligence market, state restrictions, censorship and a top-down industrial structure have made it difficult to diffuse innovation between Chinese start-ups. Chatgpt accounted for 62.5% of the market share of AI subscription sales in 2024; Deepseek may have to compromise on the extent of its content moderation to compete effectively.

In light of this, Jack Ma’s return appears to be no coincidence. Alibaba intends to invest $50 billion in artificial intelligence and cloud computing over the next three years. This is emblematic of an almost patriotic move to allocate resources to industries that China is actively prioritising and pursuing.

Many have conjectured that Jack Ma had, at worse, been imprisoned by the state of his previous transgressive criticisms. These have no doubt been usefully (and fortunately for Ma) forgiven. 

China is on track to issue a 3 trillion Yuan ($411 billion) economic stimulus via treasury bonds in 2025, supporting business through subsidies - particularly those in green sectors such as EV manufacturing. The central bank also hints at cuts to the interest rate from its current 1.5% “at an appropriate time” to facilitate economic growth. 

China’s objectives are clear and indicate a broad renewal of government confidence in private enterprise to lead the charge of this growth. Ma may very well play a substantial part in this, judging from his latest appearance in the business symposium earlier this February.

The magnate’s soft imprisonment has thawed; a return to the forefront of Chinese tech innovation awaits.