Recently, Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma was spotted night cycling on Beishan Road by West Lake in Hangzhou, which caught the attention of local residents and quickly became a hot topic on social media.
On July 17th, a netizen named “Wangzai Butongtou” posted a video claiming to have encountered Jack Ma cycling at night by West Lake. In the video, the netizen greeted Jack Ma as “Teacher Ma,” to which he turned back and responded, engaging in a brief conversation and reminding the netizen to stay safe.
In the video, the 60-year-old Jack Ma was seen wearing a white cap, a short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and white sneakers.
After the video was released, some users shared photos of the same type of bicycle Jack Ma was riding (a Brompton folding bike priced at 18,500 RMB).
The topic quickly trended on social media platforms, with some users commenting that considering Jack Ma’s wealth, it’s not surprising for him to ride a bike worth 185,000 RMB.
Since November last year, Jack Ma has been making frequent appearances across various Alibaba business sectors.
On February 17th this year, Jack Ma attended a meeting of private entrepreneurs convened by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Initially, the CCP’s official report listed the names of some attending entrepreneurs but later removed them. The final version only disclosed the names of a few entrepreneurs without mentioning Jack Ma.
In 2020, Jack Ma publicly criticized the CCP’s financial regulatory authorities, leading to government crackdowns, the suspension of Ant Group’s IPO, Alibaba facing antitrust investigations, and being fined a record-breaking 18.228 billion RMB in 2021, marking the highest antitrust penalty in Chinese history.
On April 10th, Alibaba Cloud’s annual launch event was held at the Yungu campus in Hangzhou, where Jack Ma delivered a speech.
On the evening of May 9th, Jack Ma appeared at the “Entrepreneurial Apartments” by the lakeside at the Alibaba Headquarters, with CEO Simon Hu also present.
The lakeside building is a replica of the original “Entrepreneurial Apartments” where Jack Ma and the founding team started their business in 1999, referred to by Alibaba employees as the “Lakeside Cabin.”
On the early morning of May 9th, CEO Simon Hu posted a message on the Alibaba internal network titled “Returning to the Original Intention and Entrepreneurship.”
In 2019, Jack Ma stepped down as the chairman of the Alibaba board.
In 2020, Jack Ma’s speech criticizing the CCP’s regulatory system was seen as a trigger for increased scrutiny of Alibaba by Beijing authorities, leading to his retreat from public activities. Since then, he has maintained a low profile and made fewer public appearances, drawing attention whenever he reemerges publicly.
By the end of 2021, Jack Ma had left mainland China and was later spotted in Japan, Spain, Australia, and Thailand.
In May 2023, Jack Ma called for a communication meeting with various business heads of the Taobao Group. Soon after, Zhang Yong stepped down as Chairman and CEO of the board, with Tsai Chong-xin taking over as Chairman and Simon Hu as CEO.
On November 29, last year, the South China Morning Post reported that Jack Ma revisited Alibaba’s campus, marking his first return to his hometown since March 2023. According to Alibaba employees, Jack Ma also visited several campuses of the company in Hangzhou, expressing his support for Alibaba.