Jack Ma Is Back and Making Bold Bets at Alibaba

China’s most recognizable entrepreneur is back, making bold bets and pushing artificial intelligence.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma vanished from the public eye at the outset of an antitrust investigation in late 2020. Days after publicly slamming Chinese lenders as “pawn shops,” regulators blocked plans to take Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group public. Weeks later, Beijing launched a long-running campaign to tighten state control over the economy as it looked to rein in the nation’s billionaire class. Ma was abruptly thrust into the center of a regulatory storm that grew to envelop big rivals from Didi to then-giant online education firms, pushed fellow billionaire entrepreneurs into hiding and precipitated the biggest wealth destruction in modern Chinese history.