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The celebrity billionaire hadn t been in public since Oct. 25, when he gave a speech criticizing the Chinese government s financial regulators, which resulted in a harsh crackdown on his business empire.
Beleaguered Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, whose recent absence from the spotlight had sparked fervent speculation about his whereabouts, made his first public appearance in nearly three months on Wednesday.
The celebrity tech tycoon gave a live video address to a group of Chinese teachers who were receiving accolades during an educational event supported by his philanthropic group, the Jack Ma Foundation, Chinese state media reported.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed stock jumped 8.5 percent in response to the news. The e-commerce giant s New York-listed shares also climbed 3.5 percent in after-hours trading. Even the Hong Kong shares of Alibaba Picture Group, Ma s film studio, finished up 3 percent on Wednesday.
Pinduoduo confirmed the deaths of two young workers recently, sparking debate over a culture of overworking in China’s tech companies. A ‘996’ work schedule of 12 hours a day, six days a week has become an unwritten standard for many of the country’s tech firms.
The dark side of working for China’s booming technology industry is under the spotlight again amid public criticism of social commerce giant Pinduoduo in the wake of two employee deaths, with many fearing the infamous 996 culture has become worse and not better due to pressure from the pandemic.
Pinduoduo, a rapidly expanding online sales firm, first found itself at the centre of a storm following the death of a 22-year-old woman surnamed Zhang, who was working at one of its new business units in Urumqi, on Dec 29 last year. Pinduoduo released a statement on Zhang’s death on Jan 4 and the same week, it said another young worker, surnamed Tan, jumped to his death in his hometown of Changsha.
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