Global Courant 2023-05-01 12:02:23
Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma is now a visiting professor at Tokyo College.Firdia Lisnawati/AP
Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has joined Tokyo College, which is run by the University of Tokyo.
Ma will conduct research and teach on sustainable agriculture and food production.
Ma, a former English teacher, has kept a low profile for two years after angering regulators in China.
Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has taken a teaching job in Japan, one of the first public roles he has taken on since disappearing from the spotlight in 2020.
In his new role, Ma is expected to conduct research on sustainable agriculture and food production, Tokyo College said in a announcement on Monday.
The tech giant, once China’s richest man, will also “share his rich experience and pioneering knowledge of entrepreneurship, business management and innovation” in seminars at the college, which is run by the University of Tokyo.
Ma’s term as visiting professor begins May 1. It marks the 58-year-old’s return to teaching following his retirement from Alibaba in September 2019. The billionaire was an English teacher for several years before co-founding Alibaba.
Ma said in May 2019 that he would return to teaching after his retirement from Alibaba in September of the same year. At the time, he said he would return to his roots because of his love for the profession.
Ma’s return to a public role comes more than two years after he much to the anger of the Chinese authorities in October 2020 during a speech criticizing China’s financial regulatory system, claiming that Chinese banks operated with a “pawn shop” mentality.
Days later, his $37 billion fintech company, Ant Group, went public. had been cancelled.
The cancellation of Ant’s IPO led to a broader crackdown on technology companies in the country.
This put pressure on Alibaba’s share price, which fell more than 70% from its 2020 peak. Ma’s wealth plummeted from a peak of $61 billion in October 2020 to an estimated $33 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
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Since then, Ma, who was once a high-profile jet-setter, has kept a low profile, sparking intense speculation about his whereabouts.
November 2022, Ma was spotted in Japan where he mainly socialized within various private member clubs, per the Financial Times. In January he was spotted indoors Bangkok, Thailandwhere he visited a Michelin star street food restaurant and a Muay Thai fight. He too emerged in Hong Kong in January.
Ma gets more time in the spotlight since March when he returned to a school he founded in his hometown of Hangzhou in eastern China. In April he was appointed honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong.
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