 "Jack Ma, Alibaba group")
By Min Jeong Lee
Alibaba Group Holding co-founder Jack Ma is joining the University of Tokyo’s Tokyo College as a visiting professor, according to a profile page on the university’s website.
Ma, 58, begins the new position on May 1 and is expected to contribute in several areas, the school said. He will provide advice on research topics and conduct research, especially in sustainable agriculture and food production; he will also give seminars about entrepreneurship and innovation.
One of China’s most recognisable business leaders, Ma largely dropped out of public sight after he criticised Chinese regulators in 2020 and Ant Group, an Alibaba affiliate he also co-founded, had to pull its planned initial public offering.
The billionaire resurfaced in Hangzhou, China in March, a rare appearance on the mainland.
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“It appears that his career as a businessman has come to a close,” said Oshadhi Kumarasiri, an analyst at LightStream Research who publishes on SmartKarma. “Although he achieved success in this field, he previously worked as an English teacher and had expressed a desire to return to teaching once he retired from his business ventures.”
The Tokyo school did not detail what kind of lectures or seminars Ma would conduct. It wasn’t able to immediately respond to requests for further comment.
Beijing’s move to halt Ant’s IPO kicked off a sweeping crackdown on China’s private sector, from real estate and education to gaming and the internet.
Regulators sought to curtail the power of tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent Holdings, and pushed the focus of investments to strategic priorities such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
Ma, once the highest-profile of China’s entrepreneurs, withdrew from the public spotlight.
He was spotted in the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, Thailand and Japan.
