Jack Ma will step down as president of Hupan University, an elite business academy he co-founded six years ago, amid pressure from Beijing, the Financial Times reported.
The move comes as Chinese authorities crack down on the influence of the billionaire co-founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. Ma abruptly fell from grace after blasting financial regulators in a public speech last October. Since then, his highly-anticipated initial public offering by Ant Group Co. has been put on hold, and Ma has largely stayed out of public view.
Hupan University, a training program for executives and entrepreneurs located in Hangzhou, Ma’s hometown, had recently changed its name to Hupan Innovation Center, dropping the word “university” because it’s not a degree-granting educational institution. The school will also restructure its curriculum beause authorities were concerned that Ma was building a network at odds with the Communist party’s objectives, the FT reported.
Ma was intent to remain connected to the school, the newspaper said, but wouldn’t hold any high-level official title. Hupan had suspended enrollment of new student earlier, the paper said.
Alibaba referred the FT’s questions to Hupan, which didn’t respond requests to the newspaper for comment.
Source: Newmax
