Jack Ma Resigns as President of Business School He Founded

Chinese Authorities' 'Ma Yun Crackdown' Extends to Schools
"He Resigns but Wants to Keep Ties with Schools"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company, is stepping down from his position as the inaugural president of the business school he founded. It appears that the Chinese authorities' 'Jack Ma crackdown' has extended even to the school.

On the 23rd (local time), a British economic media outlet reported, citing sources, that "the authorities are working to erase Jack Ma's influence across society." One source said, "Jack Ma will no longer hold a senior position at the school, but he wants to maintain a strong connection with it."

Hupan University, which Jack Ma co-founded in 2015 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, along with entrepreneurs such as Liu Chuanzhi, founder of Lenovo, and Guo Guangchang, chairman of Fosun Group, is regarded as an elite training ground in China, so much so that it is considered "harder to get into than Harvard University." In its founding declaration, Hupan University stated that it aims to "cultivate the next generation of entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial spirit in the new era of business civilization."

The school, which Jack Ma personally cherished enough to serve as its first president, suddenly changed its name to the Entrepreneurship Research Center last week and revised its curriculum, drawing attention to the background of these changes. Analysts suggest that as Jack Ma became a target of government suppression, the fate of the school also changed. A person associated with the school said, "The authorities are concerned that Jack Ma might form an anti-Communist Party faction through the school's network."

Jack Ma fell out of favor with the authorities after openly criticizing them at the Shanghai Financial Forum last October. Since then, he has rarely appeared in public, and Alibaba Group has been under various pressures, including a 3 trillion won antitrust fine.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.