Alibaba founder Jack Ma ‘hiding out’ in Tokyo with his family, say reports

Chinese billionaire turns to painting watercolours and collecting art after being forced into hiding

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has been reportedly hiding in central Tokyo with his family for nearly six months after Beijing's crackdown on the country's technology sector.

The founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, who was once the richest man in China, has been rarely seen in public since he criticised Chinese regulators for having a "pawnshop mentality" towards tech companies at a Shanghai summit two years ago.

His remarks followed an expansive crackdown by the Xi Jinping government on the private sector, with two of his companies Ant and Alibaba facing a series of regulatory obstacles. Regulators called off Ant’s $37bn initial public offering and fined Alibaba a record $2.8bn for antitrust abuses.

Since his fallout with the Communist government, the 58-year-old has appeared in a 48-second alleged "hostage video", spotted at a trip to the Netherlands and in a yacht off the Spanish island of Mallorca in October last year.

Prior to that, he was seen in Hong Kong.

His months-long stay in Japan has included stints in hot springs and ski resorts in the countryside of Tokyo along with regular trips to the US and Israel, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with his whereabouts.

In the Japanese capital, Mr Ma has kept to a "small handful of private members' clubs" in the central districts of Ginza and Marunouchi.

He brought along his personal chef and security staff and became an enthusiastic modern art collector.

According to the billionaire's friends in China, Mr Ma has turned to painting watercolours to pass the time after being forced to retreat from his frenetic public life.

He has also used his time in Japan to expand his business interests beyond the core ecommerce technologies of Alibaba and Ant, and into the field of sustainability, the report said.

Chinese authorities are poised to impose a fine of more than $1bn on the Ant Group, setting the stage for ending the fintech company’s two-year-long regulatory overhaul, Reuters reported.

Ant’s fine would be the largest regulatory penalty imposed on an internet company in China since ride-hailing major Didi Global’s $1.2bn fine imposed by cybersecurity regulator in July.