(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] This is the speech
that got China's most famous entrepreneur,
Jack Ma, into trouble.
(speaking in foreign language)
- He kind of slid directly into criticism
of the Chinese regulatory environment,
saying things, for example,
that China has a pawnshop mentality,
every traditional, old-school.
But it didn't come off as very funny.
(speaking in foreign language)
(people cheering)
- [Narrator] Ma is the lead founder
of e-commerce giant Alibaba,
which is the FinTech giant Ant Group grew out of.
Both companies have redefined China's economy.
But Ma directly challenged the people
who oversee the country's economy during this speech.
(speaking in foreign language)
- The speech really triggered the central government,
all the way up to President Xi Jinping.
- [Narrator] So how did the model of Chinese innovation
and entrepreneurial success end up facing
the ire of Beijing?
We look at three of his public appearances to find out.
(dramatic music)
- [Duncan] In the early days, you knew Jack more
because of his humor and his charisma
than because for his company.
- [Narrator] Duncan Clark first met Ma
when Alibaba was set up in 1999
as a fledging e-commerce company.
The internet consultant based in Beijing
even wrote a book about this friend.
- [Duncan] He had this sense
that he was destined for great things.
- [Narrator] Ma lived up to his own expectations
as his startup grew into a tech powerhouse.
And he rubbed shoulders with global elites.
- Few people could be a better example
of the China dream.
Jack Ma basically was the best PR
for the Chinese government.
- We just press by.
- [Lingling] He wants to make a difference,
be it the advancement of technology in China overall
or geopolitical matters.
- [Narrator] As Ma became the friendly face
of China's economic rise,
he found himself more involved in politics.
- Business and political leaders
would like to say that they knew Jack.
When they visited China would,
sometimes heads of state would irritate the party actually
by making appointments for Jack.
- [Narrator] One of the most talked about encounters
was when Ma went to Trump Tower
to meet the president elect,
less than two weeks before the inauguration.
- High-quality man.
Thank you, Jack.
- [Lingling] The foreign minister
was in dark about this meeting.
They didn't know about it
until after the meeting was all over the news.
- And we also think that China-US relationship
should be strengthened.
- Some officials felt like he should have stayed
in his own lane,
(bell ringing) (people cheering)
which is being a businessman,
not crossing over to sensitive issues.
- [Narrator] And this wouldn't be the last time
Ma crossed the line.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] Since 2013, Ma had been slowly signaling
that he'd make his way out of Alibaba.
- I can compete with the Bill Gates who can retire earlier.
- [Narrator] Then finally, in 2019,
he officially stepped down as executive chairman
of the company at the age of 55.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Lingling] It didn't really come as a surprise
to a lot of officials
and some of them thought he's smart.
He's basically wrapping up a very successful career.
♪ And sit while with me ♪
- [Narrator] But Ma's retirement
didn't mean he was going away
from the public eye.
He pursued philanthropic causes
and became a judge on an African reality television show,
similar to "Shark Tank."
- Let the competitors worry about you.
- [Narrator] Ma also didn't fully leave
the tech world after retirement.
He remained the controlling shareholder of Ant,
which has changed the way many people in China spend,
borrow, save and invest.
The company has also worked with
and competed against state-owned banks
and other financial institutions in China.
- His company Ant has been acting like a bank
without being regulated as a bank.
Ant has amassed a trove of consumer data.
That data has allowed Ant Group
to stay many, many steps ahead
of traditional commercial lenders.
- [Narrator] It was very lucrative for Ant,
so much so that the company landed
in the crosshairs of Chinese regulators.
- [Lingling] The central bank have wanted
to tighten the screw
over his companies for quite a long time.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Lingling] But because of his tremendous ability
to combine his entrepreneur ambitions
with his political savvy,
he have been able to basically fend off
that kind of pressure.
- [Narrator] But the clash between Ma
and financial regulators all came to a head
on October 24th last year.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Duncan] On this occasion in Shanghai,
what he was saying was directly criticizing actually people
in the room, which included very senior figures
in the Chinese government in financial regulation.
(speaking in foreign language)
- The speech in Shanghai was maybe a culmination
of where we'd gone from total humility in the early days
to perhaps a touch of hubris.
- [Narrator] Less than two weeks after the speech,
Chinese regulators took action.
- Ultimately, it was President Xi
who personally intervened in the matter,
called off the Ant IPO
and instructed financial regulators
to do a thorough investigation
into the risks posed by Jack Ma's financial
and technology empire.
- [Narrator] Ant has said it's moving quickly
to try and address the concerns of regulators.
After the Shanghai speech, Ma was nowhere to be seen.
But three months later,
he reappeared in a video that was posted
to Chinese social media
by a government-backed news outlet called Tianmu News.
It showed him addressing village teachers in China.
(speaking in foreign language)
- Senior officials don't want to send the wrong message
to the Chinese entrepreneurs,
okay, once you get big, this is the consequence for you.
The party leadership obviously want
to have very firm control over the economy
but another top priority
for the central leadership is to keep innovation going.
That's a very big challenge for China going forward.
- [Narrator] And Alibaba and Ant are still a major part
of China's tech future
but it's an open question what that means for Jack Ma.
- [Lingling] Is there a way for him to redeem himself?
The jury's definitely still out.
(dramatic music)