TheNewsGuru

Tag: Jack Ma

  • Billionaire’s absence from public eye sparks uproar

    Billionaire’s absence from public eye sparks uproar

    The absence of billionaire founder of Alibaba and Ant Group, Jack Ma from the public since late October 2020 has sparked an uproar.

    Recall that on October 24, Ma delivered fiery remarks against China’s financial system to an audience of high-rank officials.

    Days later the Chinese authorities abruptly halted Ant’s initial public offering, an act believed to be linked to Ma’s controversial speech.

    The Chinese government subsequently told the fintech behemoth, which had thrived in a relatively lax regulatory environment, to “rectify” its business according to the law.

    Concurrently, Chinese regulators have launched an unprecedented probe into Alibaba over suspected monopolistic behavior.

    Ma is known for his outspoken personality and love for the limelight, so it’s no surprise that his missing from recent events, including the final episode of an African TV program he created, is sparking widespread chatter.

  • Bottled-water businessman dethrones Jack Ma to become China’s richest person

    Bottled-water businessman dethrones Jack Ma to become China’s richest person

    Zhong Shanshan, a bottled-water and vaccine tycoon added almost $52 billion to his fortune this year, dethroning Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma to become the richest person in China.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Shanshan’s net worth reached $58.7 billion on Wednesday, $2 billion more than Jack Ma’s net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

    Shanshan is now Asia’s second-richest person behind India’s Mukesh Ambani, and he is the 17th wealthiest person in the world, ahead of Charles Koch and Phil Knight.

    The bottled-water businessman now leads a wealth ranking in China that is typically dominated by people who made their fortunes from tech companies.

    Shanshan’s fortune has jumped by $51.9 billion in 2020, more than anyone else in the world except Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk.

    Both suffered heavy declines on Wednesday as tech stocks stumbled and Tesla plunged after its “Battery Day” event fell short of expectations.

    Musk’s fortune dropped by almost $10 billion.

    Shanshan was propelled to China’s top three richest earlier this month by the initial public offering of his bottled-water company, Nongfu Spring Co.

    TNG reports Nongfu Spring Co. turned out to be Hong Kong’s most popular among retail investors.

  • Jack Ma cashes out on Alibaba, firm’s filing reveals

    Jack Ma cashes out on Alibaba, firm’s filing reveals

    Alibaba Group Holding Ltd co-founder Jack Ma has cut his stake in the company over the past year to 4.8 per cent from 6.2 per cent, cashing out around 8.2 billion dollars at its current share price, the firm’s annual filing released on Friday showed.

    The divestment comes as Jack retired as the Chinese e-commerce company’s executive chairman in September and pulled back from formal business roles to focus on philanthropy.

    Alibaba did not disclose the average selling price of his divestment.

    Its share price has risen around 40 per cent since jack reported his 6.2 per cent holding in the company a year ago.

    The stock’s stellar performance has been helped by forecast-beating earnings growth, even as China’s economy sharply slows, as more people shop online for essentials due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai also reduced his stake in the company over the same period, to 1.6 per cent from 2.2 per cent.

    The offloaded shares were worth 3.3 billion dollars as of Friday.

    Both Jack and Joseph have been steadily less involved in Alibaba’s regular operations since Daniel Zhang was announced as Ma’s successor as company chairman.

    He assumed that role formally in September 2019.

    Throughout this year, the two have donated millions of units of personal protective equipment (PPE) via their individual charity arms to hospitals worldwide to help fight the spread of COVID-19.

    An April 2019 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated that Jack would plan to sell up to 21 million shares within one year to support his philanthropic efforts.

  • COVID-19: Chinese billionaire announces more donation to Africa

    Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group, on Monday announced the donation of more medical equipment to Africa in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The Chinese billionaire made the announcement on his verified Twitter handle.

    Ma twitted: “Our 3rd donation to Africa will immediately be made to @_africanunion and @AfricaCDC.

    “This includes 4.6 million masks, 500,000 swabs and test kits, 300 ventilators, 200,000 clothing sets, 200,000 face shields, 2,000 thermal guns, 100 body temperature scanners and 500,000 pairs of gloves.”

    Ma, through his foundation, had earlier made his first set of donation to the 54 African countries.

    He donated 20,000 test kits, 100,000 masks and 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields.

    Ma also announced his second set of donation to the continent on April 6 which included 500 ventilators, 200 thousand suits and face shields, two thousand thermometers.

    Others are one million swabs and extraction kits and 500,000 gloves.

  • NCDC clears air test kits donated by Jack Ma are being sold

    The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has rebutted claims that test kits donated by Chinese business mogul Jack Ma are being sold for different purposes.

    Recall that Nigeria recently received a consignment of medical supplies donated by Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba

    The Chinese billionaire had used his foundation to forward millions of face masks, testing kits and other protective equipment to Africa as the continent battles to arrest the spread of COVID-19.

    A cargo operated by Ethiopian Airlines, which has been in charge of distribution of the material on the continent, delivered the consignment.

    However, unconfirmed reports had it that the COVID -19 tests kits sent by Jack are being sold.

    https://twitter.com/i_am_adunnii/status/1244198591385800704?s=19

    However, NCDC responded by saying, “the test kits the Government of Nigeria has received can only be used in molecular laboratories. These are being distributed by NCDC to the six #COVID19 testing laboratories in Nigeria

  • Coronavirus: Jack Ma’s medical kits donation arrives Nigeria

    Coronavirus: Jack Ma’s medical kits donation arrives Nigeria

    A consignment of medical supplies donated by Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, has arrived Nigeria.

    The Chinese billionaire had used his foundation to forward millions of face masks, testing kits and other protective equipment to Africa as the continent battles to arrest the spread of COVID-19, a deadly disease caused by coronavirus.

    A cargo operated by Ethiopian Airlines, which has been in charge of distribution of the material on the continent, arrived Lagos at about 3:20 p.m. with Nigeria’s share of the consignment, Business Day reported from the commercial capital.

    “We appreciate the donation of the Jack Ma Foundation and the generosity of Jack Ma. We admire Abiy Ahmed, our Prime Minister, for his initiative and organization of the entire coordination of the process,” the newspaper cited Firihiewot Mekonnen, general manager of Ethiopian Airlines Nigeria, as saying in an email Tuesday afternoon.

    The items are part of about five million face masks, 1.8 million testing kits, 60,000 protective gears and other critical materials that arrived in Addis Ababa on Monday. Mr Ahmed has been coordinating their speedy distribution across the continent.

    The items had been keenly anticipated across the continent, where many countries, including Nigeria, are still believed to be grossly under-testing potential carriers of the virus, making it difficult to understand its severity amongst the population.

  • Coronavirus: Africa receives 5.4m masks, 1m testing kits from Jack Ma

    Coronavirus: Africa receives 5.4m masks, 1m testing kits from Jack Ma

    Massive medical supplies donated by China’s Jack Ma Foundation to 54 African countries to battle coronavirus, arrived on Sunday morning in Addis Ababa, through an Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight.

    They include 5.4 million face masks, kits for 1.08 million detection tests, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 sets of protective face shields, according to the Jack Ma Foundation.

    The supplies will first be distributed to countries throughout Africa which are particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The remaining 600,000 masks are expected to reach Addis Ababa and be distributed to more African nations over the next few weeks, it said.

    The relief initiative forms part of Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation’s ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 and provide aid to afflicted communities across the globe.

    Earlier this week, the foundations had announced their commitment to donating 100,000 medical masks, 20,000 test kits and 1,000 protective suits and face shields to each of the 54 nations on the African continent. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across Africa has climbed to 1,114 as 40 African countries reported confirmed cases as of Saturday afternoon, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention disclosed on Saturday.

    Collaboration and partnership with the Alibaba-led Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) hubs in Ethiopia and Rwanda is expected to prompt the distribution across Africa. The flight with the shipment landed at the eWTP hub in Ethiopia, which will help facilitate transport and distribution of donations throughout the continent. “Getting these donations to all 54 African countries, with diverse geographic conditions and different levels of infrastructure, is a great logistical and transportation challenge. We are working around the clock to make the delivery as fast as possible. ” according to a Jack Ma Foundation statement. “With our technology and eWTP Hubs, we are doing our utmost to quickly deliver these donations, so the supplies can reach those who need them most,” added Song Juntao, Secretary-General of eWTP.

    This donation is part of global efforts that the Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations have promoted to support the areas of the world most affected by the COVID-19 crisis, sourcing and delivering various types of medical supplies to countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, United States, Italy, Belgium, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia. Established by Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group, the Jack Ma Foundation was founded in 2014 and has been focusing on education, entrepreneurship, women’s leadership, and the environment.

  • Breaking: Paper reveals foremost Chinese billionaire political leaning

    Breaking: Paper reveals foremost Chinese billionaire political leaning

    Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma, co-founder and executive chairman of e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate, has been identified as a member of China’s Communist Party.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the Chinese business magnate, investor, and philanthropist was identified as a member of the Communist Party by the People’s Daily in a list of people credited with helping to modernize China’s economy.

    The revelation by the party-run People’s Daily puts to bed public assumption that the billionaire was politically unattached.

    According to reports, the Communist Party is seeking to re-establish its pre-eminent role under President Xi Jinping, and this has been seen as a move to burnish the party’s image.

    Along with Ma, Pony Ma, chief executive of Tencent Holdings Ltd., and Robin Li, chief executive of Baidu Inc. were also listed as people credited with helping to modernize China’s economy.

    However, neither Pony Ma nor Robin was identified by the People’s Daily as party members.