Jack Ma is resigning as head of his prestigious business school

Cambodia Compass report, 25th May - After being caught up in a Beijing crackdown on tech titans, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, founder of ecommerce giant Aibaba, is stepping down as president of the prestigious business school he created. Since Alibaba's fintech arm was prosecuted and fined by regulators for suspected monopolistic activities, Ma, once one of China's most flamboyant entrepreneurs, has largely vanished from public view.

Hupan University, which was established in Ma's hometown of Hangzhou in 2015 as a prestigious academy for Chinese business executives, has changed its name and will restructure its curriculum. As part of Beijing's effort to curb Ma's power, he will not hold any high-level positions at the restructured organization. One individual who worked with Ma was quoted as saying, "Hupan is like an elite community; it's one of (the authorities') key goals." 

Construction workers were seen using a blow torch to strip characters from a massive "Hupan University" sign in viral videos that circulated on Chinese social media earlier this month. After sustained pressure from Beijing to dismantle Ma's fintech empire, Hupan University was forced to suspend new student enrolments last month.

Alibaba was fined a record CNY18.2 billion (USD2.8 billion) by antitrust regulators last month, and its fintech subsidiary Ant Financial was forced to restructure its business after a proposed listing was scuppered, the latest in a string of setbacks for the company. Alibaba's reprimand is generally thought to have been precipitated by Ma's speech in October, in which he criticized state financial institutions as being obsolete. The crackdown has since expanded to include many of Alibaba's rivals in China's burgeoning tech market, where government regulators are concerned that their disproportionate control over customers would supplant that of Chinese state banks. Ma – a retired schoolteacher – has poured his energy into philanthropy and various education ventures after stepping down as chairman of Alibaba in 2019.

Alibaba and Hupan University did not respond to requests for comment.

Source: Cambodia Compass comprehensive arrangement

Editor: Malinda         Chief Editor: Sunnie         General in Chief/Executive Producer: Nicole

Compass global site: Cambodia | Singapore | UAE | Thailand | Philippines | Myanmar | Laos