Former Alibaba Group boss Jack Ma has graced a mathematics tournament in Hangzhou in a rare appearance since stepping away from his corporate duties.
Alibaba Group co-founder Jack Ma appeared at an Alibaba event a few days after company executives said he was "alive" and "happy." He attended the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition finals near Alibaba Group's headquarters in Hangzhou Saturday.
The appearance was noted after Ma disappeared from public life in 2020 when he criticized Chinese regulators for meddling in the conglomerate's affairs. He has since resigned from all his corporate roles before and during the incident.
Many have speculated about his well-being since Ma's disappearance from the public eye. His first confirmed public resurfacing happened in January 2023 in Thailand when he was pictured at a Bangkok restaurant. Prior to this, he was allegedly spotted outside China in 2021 and 2022.
He also visited Beijing for the first time in years in March to visit a private school he founded. During his time in China, the Alibaba Group decided to undergo a major corporate overhaul and planned to split it into six parts to recover from the group's financial nosedive in 2020.
Read Also: Alibaba Group To Undergo Major Overhaul as Jack Ma Returns To China
'Professor Ma' and Low-key Role with Alibaba
Since stepping down from his role at Alibaba, Ma took up a teaching role at the University of Tokyo, specializing in sustainable agriculture and food production. The South China Morning Post reported he took his first class on June 12.
Meanwhile, Alibaba president Michael Evans told CNBC Thursday Ma was enjoying his new lease on life as an educator. "Well, first of all, Jack is alive," he said while attending the Viva Tech conference in Paris. "He's well, he's happy. He's creative. He's thinking. He's teaching at a university in Tokyo, spending more time in China."
Evans added Ma was still Alibaba's biggest shareholder, which shows the billionaire's commitment to the company.
"This is [Ma's] company," he added. "So he cares...as much about this company today, as he did when he started, and I expect that that will continue for as long as Alibaba and Jack Ma are here."
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