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Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has been photographed in Australia on a “personal trip”, the first time in years he has visited the country he credits with changing his life.
Mr. Ma, the founder of multinational technology company Alibaba Group, is visiting Australia for the first time in six years.
The sight of him sitting in a Melbourne hotel lobby drinking a Coke has sparked widespread speculation as he has been forced to keep a low profile since falling out of favor with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2020.
The rarity of his public appearances means that sightings of Mr. Ma, 58, immediately go viral on the internet.
A person with knowledge of his visit said: “It was just a personal trip” where he is believed to have met the Morley family, whom he has known for more than four decades.
In 1980, Mr. Ma, then 15 years old, met the Morley family of Newcastle, NSW, while on vacation in his hometown of Hangzhou.
Jack Ma shows up at a coffee shop on a recent trip to Melbourne. Sightings of him have become rare since he fell out of favor with President Xi Jinping in 2020.
Ken Morley, an electrical engineer, became the teenager’s mentor and helped him practice his English.
In 1985, Mr. Ma visited the Morleys on their first trip abroad and was photographed on a ferry in Sydney Harbour, with the Opera House and Harbor Bridge behind him.
“When I arrived in Australia, I was so shocked and amazed by the wonderful things, the people, the culture, the landscapes, the products,” he told the Australian Financial Review in 2016.
“I was… brought up in China that China was the best and richest country in the world… when I came to Australia I saw the world was so different,” he said, adding that the trip “totally changed my future.”
David Morley, the son of the late Ken Morley, has known Mr Ma since they were children and now runs a yoga school in Newcastle.
He told AFR that he could not speak publicly about Mr. Ma’s visit or plans.
The billionaire is so fond of the country that he was so impressed with it as a teenager that in 2017 he created a $29 million scholarship fund through Newcastle University in honor of the Morleys.
He also uses Melbourne as a base for a branch of his philanthropic foundation, the Australian informed.
In 2020, Ma was the most high-profile victim of a crackdown launched by Xi to target the generation of people who made billions from technology.
Xi was reportedly outraged by Ma’s criticism of Chinese financial regulators.
Before that, Mr. Ma was China’s best-known businessman and was often seen in the company of world leaders.
It is understood that he has been living in Tokyo for the past six months, though it is unclear if he is in exile or simply wants to stay out of the way of the Chinese authorities.
Mr. Ma has also been seen in the United States, Thailand, Israel, and Hong Kong of late.
Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma is pictured (front) on a ferry in Sydney Harbor in 1985 as a teenager.
Jessica Rudd, the daughter of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, previously worked as a brand ambassador for Alibaba.
Speaking in 2019, he opened up about admiring her generosity with her money.
“Ma has always been ahead of his time, and philanthropy is a new frontier for China,” he told The Associated Press. AFR.
“For a nation that has just lifted 500 million people out of poverty, it’s a quick turnaround to move to a culture of giving, so I’m glad Jack is leading the way.”
Throughout all the turbulence of the past few years, the one thing that seems to have not changed is Mr. Ma’s love for Australia.
‘I love Australia and I love going there. That is the country that changed my outlook on life,’ she said.