Alibaba Co-Founder Jack Ma To Step Down As President Of Elite Business School He Founded: FT

Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd BABA co-founder Jack Ma will step down from his position at Hupan University, an elite business academy he founded six years ago, according to a Financial Times report.

What Happened: The prestigious Hupan University has changed its name to Hupan Innovation Center on its website and social media accounts and will also restructure the curriculum, as noted by FT.

The move comes at a time when China’s regulators have increased the crackdown against the co-founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba and his business empire.

According to FT, videos showed a worker removing Hupan University’s name from a large stone sign in front of its campus using a blowtorch. A profile picture of Ma on Hupan’s website has been replaced with a photograph of a classroom.

Hupan is not an official university and the change in name fits China's campaign to ensure only licensed educational institutions can use the title “university.”  According to FT, China has 1,186 company universities.

See Also: Jack Ma's Ant Could See Valuation Drop To As Low As $29B With Changes Forced By Regulations

Why It Matters: Ma has been keeping a low profile and has almost disappeared from public view after a speech in October that criticized regulators and state-owned banks.

Despite a record $2.8 billion fine slapped on Alibaba in China after a monopoly probe found that the company had abused its dominant market position, the country’s most famed billionaire’s troubles seem to be far from over.

Ma' came under fresh regulatory scrutiny last month as China is now probing how the ace entrepreneur won quick approvals for Alibaba's fintech spinoff Ant Group's initial public offering last year, which was halted at the last minute, as per an earlier report from the Wall Street Journal.

See also: How To Buy Alibaba Stock

Price Action: Alibaba shares closed 2.73% lower at $211.06 on Friday.

Photo by Paul Kagame on Flickr