The whereabouts of Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire who founded Alibaba and Ant Group, have been open since the Chinese government cracked down on its companies in late 2020.
But flight records of what is believed to be the businessman’s private jet show that he was mostly at home and traveling within China, mainly to Beijing and Hainan, the Financial Times reported exclusively.
The FT report shows that Ma had access to his jet and rejects rumors that the billionaire was under house arrest or fled the country for Singapore.
Ma has been on the brink for months after publicly criticizing China’s financial regulatory system in October, weeks before his fintech firm Ant Group went public. The IPO, which would have been the biggest in history, was halted in November, when China introduced new regulations. In December, China launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba.
Ma was spotted in February playing golf at the Sun Valley Golf Resort in Hainan, a tropical island in China, sources told Bloomberg News. It was his first public appearance in two months, easing fears that Ma had been arrested.
He also made a 50-second video appearance in January, during a conference call in which he addressed rural Chinese teachers.
FT reviewed the flight records compiled by Radarbox, a flight tracking company, and compared a jet’s records with Ma’s known travel schedule in the three months prior to the crackdown on his companies.
Ma was traveling once every three days until he started hiding in October, but was traveling only once a week in January and February, FT said.
He appears to have traveled to Beijing to discuss his companies with Chinese regulators, and sources told FT Ma to be directly involved in the Ant Group negotiations.
Insider contacted Ant Group and Alibaba for comment.
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