Jack Ma’s name omitted from Chinese state newspaper’s list

Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma is not a leading enterpreneur of China. As per a list of Chinese entrepreneurial leaders published by state media his name is not mentioned. China’s best-known businessman was not mentioned in an front-page article published by the Shanghai Securities News. Instead, Huawei Technologies’ Ren Zhengfei, Xiaomi Corp’s Lei Jun and BYD’s Wang Chuanfu were lauded for their contributions. The list  was published on Tuesday.

The catalyst for Ma’s current woes was an Oct. 24 speech in which he blasted China’s regulatory system, leading to the suspension of his Ant Group’s $37 billion IPO just days before the fintech giant’s listing.Regulators have since launched an anti-trust probe into the tech sector with Alibaba taking much of the heat, while tighter regulations for Ant Group are also being considered.The Shanghai Securities News said that while some of the entrepreneurs it praised had once behaved like “reckless heroes” in their efforts to break away from an old, rigid economic system, they now led “a group of companies that respected the rules of development and abided by market rules.”