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