Jack Ma makes a rare appearance on Alibaba’s family day at company’s Hangzhou campus
- Ma, who retired as Alibaba’s chairman on his 55th birthday in September 2019, did not give a speech during the event
- An unattributed photograph on NetEase.com’s news application showed him clad in a blue T-shirt, surrounded by staff
AliDay, which takes place every year on May 10, was established to commemorate China’s struggle to overcome the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars, when the entire staff had to work from home because one employee had contracted the disease. The annual commemoration began in 2005, followed by group weddings for employees every year starting in 2006.
The company “abused its dominant market position in China’s online retail platform service market since 2015 by forcing online merchants to open stores or take part in promotions on its platforms,” compelling the market to “pick one from two” in a breach of the country’s anti-monopoly law, the regulator said. Investigations into Alibaba’s business practices began last Christmas Eve.
Ma, 56, was also seen in several short videos last month on Douyin, the Chinese version of ByteDance’s TikTok service. In the videos, Ma could be seen sitting at a bar with a mug of beer with a group of unidentified men. The person who uploaded the video clips didn’t respond to requests for comment.