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Among the delegates was Jack Ma, who founded e-commerce firm
Alibaba in the 1990s and was once China’s richest man. He has
kept a low profile with few public appearances in recent years
after he publicly criticized China’s regulators and financial
systems during a speech in Shanghai.
Other business leaders at Monday's meeting in Beijing were Zeng
Yuqun, the chairman of battery developer CATL, Wang Chuanfu,
chairman of electric cars manufacturer BYD, and Pony Ma, the CEO
of Tencent, which owns WeChat, according to a video of the
meeting from state broadcaster CCTV and a state media report.
According to the state media report, Xi made “important remarks”
to the gathered delegates, without giving further details. The
short two paragraph report which originally had been carried by
state media was subsequently deleted. Instead, a search online
revealed shorter state media statement which had cut out the
names of those present.
Ma, one of the wealthiest men in the country, gave a speech in
Oct 2020 in which he said regulators were too conservative. The
government responded by scuttling his plans for Ant Group 's
stock market debut, the finance-focused business which grew out
of Alipay, the popular digital payments system. They also then
forced Ant Group to restructure, dividing it into multiple
independent businesses.
Alibaba was also investigated and fined $2.8 billion for
breaching antitrust rules.
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