Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma is starting a teaching position in Japan as the Chinese entrepreneur begins to reassume a public profile after largely disappearing from view during Beijing’s crackdown on tech.
Tokyo College said on Monday that Ma had joined as a visiting professor from May 1 and would research projects in sustainable agriculture and food production as well as delivering seminars on entrepreneurship.
The charismatic entrepreneur was China’s best-known business leader and used to give freewheeling interviews to foreign media. But he retreated from the spotlight after his criticism of Chinese regulators in late 2020 culminated in the cancellation of a blockbuster $37bn initial public offering by Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba.