When Jack Ma said his famous quote, "In eight years, houses will be like spring onions," at the 2017 China Global Investment Summit, he certainly wasn't referring to house prices in London.
This Grade II-listed townhouse, which features a cinema, a lift, and six bedrooms, was once used as the Italian Embassy in the 1920s and later served as the office of the Italian Defence Attaché.
Ma fell out with top Chinese officials a few years ago and has lived a very low profile since. This report has sparked speculation about whether Jack Ma is preparing to emigrate.
Some netizens asked, “Are you ready to run (out of China)?”
Another commented, “Of course run away; otherwise you’d be waiting to get devoured by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).”
Ma provoked the ire of high-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials in 2020 after publicly criticizing the country's financial regulators. Shortly afterward, Ant Group’s planned $37 billion IPO—the largest in history at the time—was abruptly halted, and Ma's personal net worth fell from $61 billion to $30 billion by 2023.
Following the fallout, he vanished from public view for the next few years, living abroad in a low profile. He was spotted in Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, and Europe.
He made his first confirmed public appearance in China in March 2023 but has since maintained a very low-key presence.
The new revelation of his wife’s purchase in London is part of the family's extensive property portfolio outside China.
Despite Ma's significantly reduced public appearances, his family’s global property expansion has continued unabated, with luxury acquisitions in Hong Kong, a winery and vineyard in France, and mansions in the United States.