Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma continues to take heat in his home country as he seems to have fallen out of the graces of government officials.

Ma was notably left off a list of Chinese entrepreneurial leaders published Tuesday by state media outlet Shanghai Securities News, Reuters reported.

The list included Huawei Technologies’ Ren Zhengfei, Xiaomi Corp’s Lei Jun, and BYD’s Wang Chuanfu, who were given accolades for their contributions in China, Reuters said.

Ma’s absence from the list may have been due to comments he made on Oct. 24 at a Shanghai forum about China’s financial regulatory system that rubbed government officials the wrong way.

“We cannot regulate the future with yesterday’s means," he said at the time. "There’s no systemic financial risks in China because there’s no financial system in China. The risks are a lack of systems.”

A private meeting with Chinese regulators followed the comments made by Ma, and the suspension of his Ant Group’s $37 billion IPO on both the Shanghai and Hong Kong’s exchanges occurred just days before its listing.

Ant Group was then subjected to scrutiny by Chinese regulators and required to restructure into a financial holding company as it was called out over concerns of monopolization.

Ma, who has a net worth of $53.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, had disappeared from the public eye for nearly three months following the Ant Group's IPO suspension.

Reports indicated that he was lying low, but concerns mounted over his whereabouts as he missed an appearance on the TV show he created, “Africa’s Business Heroes,” The Financial Times reported.

Ma resurfaced earlier this month in a 50-second video to discuss the teachers in rural parts of China as part of the annual Rural Teacher Initiative.

According to Bloomberg, the Shanghai Securities News said the entrepreneurs it honored represent “A generation of Chinese entrepreneurs emerged from the rigid structures of our old economic system with the desire to escape poverty and passion to achieve business ambitions. They have breathed new life into China’s economic reforms.”

The publishing of the entrepreneur list comes on the same day that Alibaba (BABA), which Ma also founded, posted its latest quarterly earnings report.

Shares of Alibaba were trading at $261.80 as of premarket hours, down $2.89 or 1.09%.

Jack Ma had virtually disappeared from the public eye since early November, when he was hauled in front of regulators
Jack Ma had virtually disappeared from the public eye since early November, when he was hauled in front of regulators AFP / Fabrice COFFRINI
RELATED STORIES
China