Alibaba shares rebound as founder resurfaces after three months

Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma resurfaced after a three month hiatus from public appearances, speaking to 100 rural teachers through a video call, which sent stock in his company more than 8% higher on Wednesday on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

It was unclear where Ma had been for the past months since his last public appearance in October after media reported in December that he had skipped the recording of a TV program which he himself had created.

His e-commerce giant Alibaba and fintech outfit Ant Group have come under pressure from the Chinese authorities in recent months over alleged monopolistic practices.

In his last appearance, Ma had publicly criticised the Chinese financial regulatory system.

According to TechCrunch, those comments might be why Chinese regulators unexpectedly halted Ant’s initial public offering, which would have been the biggest public share sale of all time.

Ant has since been working on a corporate restructuring plan and regulatory compliance under the directions of Beijing.