China’s Richest Man Sacrifices $42B to Survive Xi’s Manhunt, Goes Gray From Stress Overnight

Actress Zhao Wei, once one of China's biggest stars, has made a rare public appearance abroad after five years out of the spotlight. She attended a hair show on Orchard Road in Singapore on October 20th. At age 50, Zhao looked noticeably older and more worn than many had remembered. Asked by a reporter whether she still wanted to act, she gave a faint smile and said, you can watch the reruns. That brief reply carried a sense of resignation. On October 26, 2021, her best-known shows, including My Fair Princess and Romance in the Rain, suddenly disappeared from Chinese video sites. Her name was also removed from the credits. There was no announcement, no charge, and no official explanation. Just a few months earlier, her husband, Huang Xiaolong, had been arrested in Bordeaux, France. Chinese authorities asked France to extradite him. Records later disclosed by a French court showed that Huang received repeated calls from China while in custody. One caller was Alibaba founder Jack Ma. A French appeals court was hearing an unusual extradition case in July 2021. China wanted France to hand over wanted businessman Huang Xiaolong. In court, his defense lawyer played a recorded phone call. The voice on the other end belonged to Jack Ma, once China's richest man, who had been out of public view for months. Ma said, personally, I don't think you have any other way out. He's offering you these terms now. If you don't come back now, he'll go after you until you're dead. Huang Xiaolong and Jack Ma were close friends. In June 2014, Ma hosted a dinner in Beijing for Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Huang was invited as a friend from the business world. He also accompanied Ma to public business events, including the announcement of Alibaba's investment in Chinese real estate giant Evergrande. Later, Zhao and Huang developed extensive business ties with Alibaba Group through investments such as their stake in Alibaba Pictures. French police detained Huang under an Interpol Red Notice after he arrived by private jet at Bordeaux Airport on March 22, 2021. Chinese authorities then formally requested his extradition. That raises the question of what led Jack Ma to personally urge a wanted businessman to return. In the recording, Ma sounded resigned as he revealed that he too was following orders. He was already in deep trouble himself. He spent more than 300 billion yuan, about 42 billion U.S. dollars, trying to resolve his problems. That covered only the publicly disclosed fines and the so-called donations he made to protect himself. The bigger financial blow came when Ant's stock market debut was halted just 48 hours before launch. Its valuation plunged by three quarters, wiping out 224 billion dollars in value. Ma also lost control of Ant Group. The former richest man in China was struggling to protect his own position. In the recording, Huang Xiaolong asked Ma, did they contact you? Ma answered, yes. Huang pressed him, did they personally give you that guarantee? Ma replied, I don't know whether it's a guarantee. Either way, you don't have any other way out. The call began as an effort by Ma to cooperate with the authorities. Instead, it became key evidence that helped Huang avoid extradition. The recording suggested that Huang's return to China might involve more than the money laundering case. Other politically sensitive cases could also be involved. Prosecutors in Dongguan, Guangdong province, accused Huang of money laundering in March 2021. They also accused him of involvement in the case of Tuan Dai Wang, a Guangdong peer-to-peer lending platform that collapsed in 2019. In addition, Huang invested about 5 million US dollars in a securities firm controlled by former Deputy Public Security Minister Sun Lijun at Sun's invitation. Chinese authorities therefore put Huang on a list of people being investigated in connection with Sun's political corruption case. The French court found that the extradition request might involve factors beyond an ordinary criminal case. It concluded that Huang could face political risks if returned to China, and ultimately rejected the request. Huang avoided extradition, while Ma found himself in an even more difficult position. Alibaba was facing an antitrust investigation at the time. Ma reluctantly made the call as a chance to cooperate with the government and make amends. Instead, he unintentionally exposed the leadership's real intentions and undermined the effort. That appeared to further reduce his chances of recovering his position. Behind the campaign against him was Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping himself. Deeply afraid, Ma began using his connections to seek meetings with people in Xi's inner circle. None would see him. They all kept their distance. With his options exhausted, Ma wrote Xi a personal letter, pledging his loyalty. He took a deeply deferential tone, expressing remorse over his past words and actions. He also said he was willing to devote the rest of his life to rural education and poverty relief in China. Many believe Ma's troubles stemmed entirely from his speech at the Bund Summit in Shanghai in 2020. That explanation, however, is too simple. The speech was, at most, the trigger. Xi's displeasure with what he saw as Ma's arrogance had been building for some time. The first incident came at a business roundtable in Seattle during Xi's 2015 visit to the United States. Speakers generally faced strict time limits. Ma, however, spoke for nearly 10 minutes, and Xi looked visibly displeased. At an event centered on the Chinese Communist Party leader, Ma had drawn attention away from him. Then in 2017, Hong Kong's then chief executive Carrie Lam visited Alibaba. Ma smiled and told her, if Hangzhou also had the one country two systems policy, who knows how far Alibaba would go there. The remark was widely seen as touching on politically sensitive territory. Also in 2017, shortly after Donald Trump took office as US president, Ma held a high profile meeting with him at Trump Tower in New York. Ma told the media, that Alibaba planned to help create 1 million jobs in the United States over the next five years. This raised concerns for Xi. He saw a danger in private business giants using their economic power to negotiate with foreign leaders independently of the state. Such influence would become a political force beyond the party's control, challenging the principle that the party leads everything. Taken together, these events created the impression that Ma's influence extended well beyond business. Ma was indeed at the peak of his career. Taobao, Tmall, Alipay, Alibaba Cloud, and Cainiao Logistics formed a vast business empire. Meanwhile, Alibaba invested heavily in major media outlets, including Yicai, Youku, and the South China Morning Post. A common saying in business circles was that Alibaba had bought up almost half of China's media. Ma also founded Hupan University, bringing together many entrepreneurs. He frequently shared his ideas about business, management, and social development. Over time, those ideas developed into a system of his own. To Xi, this looked like Ma was building his own version of Xi Jinping thought. Supporters saw it as promoting entrepreneurship. Xi saw Ma's personal influence continuing to grow. More significant was the vast and complex ownership structure behind Ant Group. Ant Financial completed a major fundraising round in 2018, attracting numerous investors. It was seen as one of China's leading financial technology companies. Its influence had grown beyond that of an ordinary internet business, prompting Xi to decide to take it down. Back in 2018, Ant Financial completed its final fundraising round before its planned listing, raising US$14 billion and drawing global attention in private equity. Its shareholders included political rivals Xi had targeted, descendants of Communist Party leaders, members of the Shanghai faction and other elite families. Among them were Boyu Capital, linked to Jiang Zhicheng, grandson of former party leader Jiang Zemin, Zauda Investment, linked to Li Botan, son-in-law of former top-ranking leader Jia Qinglin, Primavera Capital, founded by Hong Kong financier Fred Hu, and family interests of former Zhejiang Party Secretary Zhou Jiangyong, and had become more than a company. It tied together state capital, international investors, established political families, and local power networks, yet none of Xi's family interests were visible in it. These ties may have given Ma confidence that his position was secure. He believed he had another advantage, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and the director of the party's general office, Cai Qi. Li in particular had supported Ma providing policy support and land when needed. As Beijing's party secretary, Cai also welcomed Alibaba and personally invited it to invest. Ma had long enjoyed local government support and strong influence in the business world. He had capital, connections, and resources. Against that backdrop, the Bund summit in Shanghai on October 24, 2020, became a turning point. Before Ma took the stage, Vice Premier Wang Qishan appeared by video to stress Xi's instructions, prevent financial risks that could threaten the entire system. Ma's opening point directly contradicted Wang. He said, China's financial sector basically has no system. Government officials and regulators heard this as a dismissal of the state's ability to manage the economy. His second point attacked China's major state-owned banks for their pawnshop mentality. He said they relied on collateral, such as homes and land, rather than creditworthiness and big data. In his view, that outdated approach had driven countless private businesses desperate for funding out of business. Third, he criticized regulators for treating polio as if it were Alzheimer's. He compared their approach to using rigid rules designed for the elderly to constrain China's still-developing financial sector. The analogy criticized what he saw as excessive regulation and rigid thinking. On the surface, these three points concerned the financial system. Each, however, challenged Xi's approach. Once the remarks reached Beijing, they were labeled an open challenge by capital to state sovereignty. The situation took a sharp turn in less than 10 days. Regulators summoned Ma for questioning on November 2, 2020. The next day, November 3, Ant Group's planned initial public offering was abruptly halted. Alibaba then faced an antitrust investigation and a fine of 18.2 billion yuan, about 2.5 billion U.S. dollars. Ant Group was ordered to overhaul its operations. Core services, including Huabei Consumer Credit and Jiebei Cash Loans, came under strict regulation. On September 2, 2021, Alibaba committed 100 billion yuan, about 14 billion U.S. dollars, to support common prosperity. By then, Ma's personal wealth had fallen by another 200 billion to 300 billion yuan. He gradually lost control of Ant Group. Ma also faded from public view. He was spotted in Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, and Australia, among other places, with his movements difficult to track. His eventual return to China raised another question, given the widespread belief that he was in danger. By late 2022, the situation had changed. After the pandemic, China's economy faced a property slump, weak private investment, and declining confidence among foreign investors. The market needed someone with international influence to send a positive signal. Ma was clearly one of the most prominent candidates. Premier Li Qiang then began contacting Ma through various channels, hoping to persuade him to return. Ma, however, was not easily reassured. He wanted to know how the top leadership really viewed him. In early 2023, Ma made two visits to Thailand, meeting Charin CP Group founder Dhanin Chirathivat and others. The group had significant connections. Teresa Tse, a fourth-generation leader in the family, had married Xi's nephew, Chi Ming-chang, linking the Chirawanon family to Xi's through marriage. The visits fueled market speculation and even pushed up shares in related companies. Ma's two trips to Thailand were not about business. He was sounding out the Chirawanon family about Xi's intentions. He wanted to know how Xi planned to deal with him and whether he would be arrested if he returned. Only after receiving those signals, along with concrete assurances from Premier Li Qiang, did Ma board a flight back to China. Xi may not have been seeking a deal in which more than 300 billion yuan bought Ma protection. What he really wanted was for Ma to withdraw from public debate and stop challenging regulators. The central message was that no private entrepreneurs could challenge the supreme political authority represented by Xi. Ma went from China's richest man and a business icon, to the central figure in a regulatory crackdown. He has since moved away from the center of business power. His trajectory reflects, in part, changing fortunes of private capital in China over more than a decade. Ma's story marks the decline of a generation of Chinese entrepreneurs with political ambitions. It has become a symbol of the reversal in fortunes of private businesses, with wider implications for public confidence. Chinese private entrepreneurs have all but lost faith in the authorities. Calls for the private sector to step aside marked one turning point. Ma's experience marked another. Compared with Ma, actress Zhao Wei faces an even bleaker situation. Zhao and Huang Youlong married in 2008. Their daughter, nicknamed Little April, was born in 2010. The couple were once active investors together. Zhao publicly announced her divorce from Huang on December 28, 2024. Her statement stressed, we formally divorced years ago. Our marriage was legally dissolved long ago. The restrained announcement quickly became the top trending topic on Weibo. Many saw it as more than a divorce announcement. It looked like a statement distancing herself from him. Zhao became involved in a 1.8 billion yuan debt dispute after guaranteeing debts for a company controlled by Huang. Courts have frozen her equity interests in several companies, 9 million yuan in Wuhu Dongrenfa, 1.9 million yuan in Tibet Longwei, and 5 million yuan in Hebao Entertainment. The total is 15.9 million yuan, about 1.2 million US dollars. Her name also reappeared in public court records over an enforcement payment of just 8,488 yuan. Over those five years, Zhao repeatedly tried to return to public life and repeatedly ran into obstacles. Whether through film and television projects or business appearances, each possible comeback quickly faded. On New Year's Eve, ushering in 2026, she tried selling red wine on a live stream. It was cut off after just 10 minutes, and her account was then banned. A month later, state media published commentary calling for no opportunities for entertainers with moral failings to cash in. That closed off the remaining prospects for Zhao's comeback.