Jack Ma 'Alive and Happy', Alibaba Plans Major European Push with Tmall, Says President Michael Evans

Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA President Michael Evans made revelations at the Viva Tech conference in Paris Thursday.

He said the e-commerce firm founder Jack Ma is "alive" and "happy," in response to Maurice Levy, the chairman of French advertising group Publicis.

Ma is teaching at a university in Tokyo, spending more time in China," CNBC quotes Evan.

Alibaba became the target of Beijing's sweeping regulatory crackdown in November 2020, which began with the scrapping of Alibaba's financial technology affiliate Ant Group's initial public offering.

The regulators hit Alibaba with a $2.8 billion antitrust fine in 2021. Ma was out of public view for a few months, sparking speculation he had gone missing.

Later in 2021, Ma traveled to Europe, and in 2022, he spent several months outside of China. Media spotted Ma in his home country earlier in 2023.

Evans said Ma is still Alibaba's biggest shareholder and cares as much about this company today as he did when he started.

He also shared Alibaba's plans to expand one of its key China e-commerce sites into Europe. The company will bring one of its China e-commerce services, Tmall, into Europe in a significant strategy shift.

Alibaba is currently doing a pilot project in Spain, which "will expand across Europe." Evans' suggested that Tmall in Europe would focus on selling local brands to local shoppers. 

He said Europe is a top priority for all businesses with an international component, including the international commerce, cloud, and logistics businesses.

Price Action: BABA shares traded higher by 1.48% at $93.56 premarket on the last check Friday.

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