The Alibaba online store, which belongs to the most famous and until recently the richest Chinese businessman Jack Ma, is now struggling with unfavorable regulators, but at the same time won the favor of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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At Thursday’s ceremony, the president praised Alibaba as one of hundreds of companies for working to eradicate extreme poverty. Server CNN He said the company was supporting the Jinping campaign against poverty in China.
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Alibabu was also praised by the Chinese state media, which highlighted the company’s efforts to help farmers sell $ 155 billion worth of agricultural products through its website.
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Jack Ma also helps poor rural women get an education and provides loans to rural regions through its online banking services. The China Youth Daily, which is the official media of the Chinese Communist Youth League, also reported on the efforts of the online store.
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Jack Ma welcomes the government’s praise and support, as his business has been facing Beijing’s repression of China’s technology sector for months. Like Alibaba, there are other large technology companies.
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Alibaby’s subsidiary is also the financial technology company Ant Group, which must undergo a major restructuring to comply with Chinese regulators. They are concerned about the company’s huge reach in the area of finance and digital payments. After Ma criticized Chinese regulators, the authorities canceled Antu’s listing on the stock exchange.
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Jack Ma’s critical words were also addressed by the local media. At the end of last year, a spokesman for the Communist Party published a text in the Zhenmin Z’pao, or People’s Daily, calling on technology companies to take more responsibility and focus less on short-term results. “Internet giants with huge amounts of data and advanced algorithms should have more responsibility,” CNN quoted the comment as saying.
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He is no longer the richest
Jack Ma lost the title of the richest man in China this week. According to the new ranking of the richest people in the country, compiled by the Hurun organization, he now ranks fourth. He was replaced first by Zhong Shanshan, owner of the Nongfu Spring bottled water company. Its assets amount to 550 billion yuan (1.9 trillion crowns), Reuters reported. Jack Ma’s assets have risen 22 percent to 360 billion yuan in the past year. The dispute with the regulators was one of the reasons why Jack Ma fell in the rankings.
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Pony Ma, the founder of the Internet company Tencent Holdings, finished in second place. The value of his assets increased by 70 percent to 480 billion yuan a year. The owner of the online store Pinduoduo, Colin Huang, finished in third place with assets of 450 billion yuan. Year-on-year, the value of his assets increased by 283 percent.
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Chinese technology companies, which, according to researcher Heinrich’s foundation Alex Capri, are contributing to President Si Jinping’s campaign against poverty, are fulfilling their duty to the state. “They make such a good impression on the party and get support,” he added.
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Nevertheless, Capri warned that Alibaba’s praise did not contradict the Chinese Communist Party’s strict stance on Big Tech. He still expects the government to continue its repression. Concerns about the large influence of technology companies on the Chinese financial system also contribute to this.
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