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Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba, hasn't been seen in two months after the Chinese government cracked down on his companies. Here's a timeline of his fall from grace.

Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba, hasn't been seen in two months after the Chinese government cracked down on his companies. Here's a timeline of his fall from grace.

Sinéad Baker

Chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Jack Ma delivers a speech to participants during the 4th edition of the Viva Technology show at Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles on May 16, 2019 in Paris, France.Chesnot/Getty Images

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has not been seen in public since October.
Ma, who founded Alibaba and Ant Group, clashed with Chinese regulators, who cracked down on his companies after he criticized China's financial regulatory system.
He was replaced on the final of a TV show where he was due to appear as a judge, with a spokesperson blaming scheduling issues.
CNBC reported that a source said that Ma was deliberately lying low, and was not missing.

Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire who founded Alibaba and Ant Group, has not been seen in public for more than two months.

Ma became the richest man in China through his highly successful companies, as well as a well-known face across China and in the global business world.

But China had recently begun to crack down on his empire, launching an investigation into Alibaba, the e-commerce giant, and halting the IPO of Ant Group, his fintech company.

Ma now hasn't been seen in public since October. CNBC reported on Tuesday that a source said that Ma was deliberately lying low, and was not missing.

Here's a timeline of Ma's rise and fall.

Ma, who was born with the name Ma Yun - was born on September 10, 1964, in Hangzhou, southeastern China.

Jack Ma in China in 2019. Wang HE/Getty Images

Source: 60 Minutes, USA Today

Ma was rejected for more than a dozen jobs before starting to work as an English teacher, and said in 2016 that he had been rejected from Harvard 10 times.

Jack Ma in January 2018. Wang HE/Getty Images

Source: Business Insider

He founded Alibaba in 1999. It grew to become the world's largest B2B e-commerce marketplace in the world, and has the world's largest shopping event.

The logo of Alibaba Group is seen at the company's headquarters in Hangzhou, China. Reuters

Source: Business Insider, Business Insider

Alibaba's 2014 IPO was at the time the largest in history.

Jack Ma as Alibaba went public on the NYSE in 2014. Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Source: NYSE

The IPO also made Ma the richest person in China, with a net worth of around $25 billion at the time.

Ma in Hong Kong in November 2017. ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images

Source: Business Insider

Ma's wealth has grown since, but he has dropped to the fourth-richest man in China, as other people eclipsed even his net worth of some $50 billion.

Source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index

Ma founded Ant Group, formerly called Ant Financial, in 2014. The company is an affiliate of Alibaba, and owns digital payment platform Alipay.

An Ant Group logo is seen at the company's headquarters on October 28, 2020 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. Chen Zhongqiu/VCG/Getty Images

On October 24, when Ant Group was gearing up for an IPO, Ma criticized China's financial regulatory system, saying China was following global rules that are part of "an old people's club."

As Business Insider's Katie Canales previously reported, Ma said that the rules that govern global banking aren't well-suited for Chinese tech innovation.

He said: "We can't use yesterday's methods to regulate the future."

The Guardian noted that his last public event seems to have been a livestream for the launch of a shopping event on October 31.

Source: The Guardian

On November 2, China introduced new regulations that halted the Ant Group IPO.

Ant Group logo is pictured at the Shanghai office of Alipay. Aly Song/Reuters

The IPO was expected to raise $37 billion, making it the largest in history.

But, a week after Ma's criticisms of the regulatory system, China introduced new regulations for online lending that disqualified Ant Group from making an IPO.

As The Guardian noted, analysts interpreted China's decision as a warning to Ma.

Bill Bishop, the author of the China-focused newsletter Sinocism, then wrote: "The party has once again reminded all private entrepreneurs that no matter how rich and successful you are it can pull the rug out from under your feet at any time."

The Wall Street Journal reported that Ma offered to give parts of Ant Group to the Chinese government when meeting them on November 2, but China still went ahead with the rule change.

Jack Ma shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2015. Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty Images

Sources told the Journal that Ma told regulators: "You can take any of the platforms Ant has, as long as the country needs it."

And later in November, Ma was replaced as a judge on final episode of a talent show he founded, "Africa's Business Heroes," the Financial Times reported.

The FT noted that Ma's photo was removed from the show's webpage and he wasn't included in the promotional video.

An Alibaba spokesperson blamed scheduling conflicts: "Due to a schedule conflict Mr Ma could no longer be part of the finale judge panel of Africa's Business Heroes earlier this year (2020)."

And an Alibaba spokesperson told Business Insider that they had nothing else to add when asked about Ma's whereabouts: "We do not have anything to add beyond that."

On December 23, Chinese regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba. Ma still owns a 8.9% stake in the company.

Jack Ma in 2018. Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images

Chinese regulators said they were investigating Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd over "suspected monopolistic practices".

And on December 28, China told Ant Group to limit its ambitions and focus on payment services instead of insurance or wealth management.

Ant Group said in a statement that it would establish a "rectification working group" to do as the regulator asked.

CNBC reported on Tuesday that sources said Ma was deliberately lying low, and was not missing.

A person familiar with the matter told CNBC's David Faber that Ma was deliberately staying out of the spotlight.