Jack Ma is back, or so the story goes. In October 2020, he walked out on stage in Shanghai and told China's top financial officials their banks still think like pawnshops. Ten days later the biggest stock market listing in history was dead. He was never arrested, never charged, never tried, and he's still worth around $26 billion. So who paid? We went through the companies' own filings and six years of daily share prices: • Alibaba's market value: about $858 billion at its October 2020 peak, $167 billion two years later, about $264 billion today. • Ant's prospectus valued it at about $313 billion; its own 2023 buyback valued it at $78.5 billion. • Together, allowing for the third of Ant that Alibaba owns: about $750 billion. Then this August, in the week Alibaba's stock fell 10%, the man Beijing silenced was back, buying. CHAPTERS 0:00 Is Jack Ma really back? 1:39 The rule Jack Ma made for himself 3:16 The speech at the Bund Summit 4:15 Ten days 5:43 The paperwork 7:11 Who paid 8:35 The return 10:21 What he's allowed to do WHAT THIS VIDEO DOES NOT CLAIM • Jack Ma was never arrested or charged with any crime. "Disappeared" means out of public view. • $750 billion is a change in market value since the week of the speech. It's our arithmetic on the companies' filings and market prices, not Jack Ma's own money, and it includes market-wide moves as well as the crackdown. The Ant figures compare its IPO valuation with its own buyback valuation, not two market prices. • Jack Ma's own August 2026 purchase (more than HK$600 million) has no public filing. It is reported by people familiar with the purchases. Joe Tsai's and Eddie Wu's purchases are in SEC Form 4 filings. • "He lived in Tokyo" comes from people close to him, not from a document. • Xinhua's official account of the 17 Feb 2025 symposium names six speakers and does not mention Jack Ma. His presence is shown in CCTV's own footage. • The state bank chairman's "we have to kill you" line is Jack Ma's own retelling (WSJD Live, 2014) of a remark about competition. It is not a threat to his life. • Not financial advice. SOURCES (primary documents) Ant Group H-share prospectus and its 3 Nov 2020 suspension announcement (HKEXnews) · Shanghai Stock Exchange subscription results (30 Oct 2020) and suspension notices (3–5 Nov 2020) · Alibaba Group SEC filings: 6-K of 12 Apr 2021 (SAMR penalty decision), 6-K of 28 Mar 2023 (six business groups), 6-K of 10 Jul 2023 (Ant buyback), Form 20-F FY2020/FY2022/FY2023/FY2026 (share counts, golden share, Ant control change), 6-K of 24 Aug 2026 (HK$80 billion placing) · SEC Form 4 filings by Joseph C. Tsai and Eddie Yongming Wu (24–25 Aug 2026) · Ant Group notice of 7 Jan 2023 (antgroup.com) · iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF annual report, Form N-CSR (31 Aug 2020) · Xinhua interview with Guo Shuqing (7 Jan 2023) and readout of the private-enterprise symposium (17 Feb 2025) · CCTV report of the symposium (17 Feb 2025) · Jack Ma, Bund Summit speech, 24 Oct 2020 (English translation by Kevin Xu, Interconnected) · Daily prices: NYSE (BABA), HKEX (9988), KWEB. CLIPS, FOOTAGE, PORTRAITS & MUSIC Excerpts used for commentary (muted footage unless quoted): • Jack Ma, WSJD Live, Laguna Beach (29 Oct 2014, The Wall Street Journal) • Jack Ma at the 2020 Bund Summit, Shanghai (event feed, 24 Oct 2020) and CGTN's coverage of the summit • CCTV: report on the private-enterprise symposium (17 Feb 2025); State Council Information Office press conference with Guo Shuqing (2 Mar 2021) • CGTN: People's Bank of China headquarters; Alibaba's Hangzhou headquarters • South China Morning Post: Jack Ma's video for rural teachers (20 Jan 2021); his visit to Yungu School, Hangzhou (27 Mar 2023) • Alibaba Group B-roll: Hong Kong listing (26 Nov 2019) • World Economic Forum: Davos 2018 and 2019 • New China TV: Jack Ma and Elon Musk, World AI Conference (Aug 2019) • Ant Group 20th anniversary, Hangzhou (8 Dec 2024) • Charlie Munger, Daily Journal annual meeting (15 Feb 2023, via CNBC) • Joe Tsai, "In Good Company" (3 Apr 2024, Norges Bank Investment Management) © their owners. Portraits (Wikimedia Commons): • Jack Ma: World Economic Forum (CC BY 2.0); Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation (CC BY 4.0); UNclimatechange (CC BY 2.0) • Joe Tsai: WOWyerrr (CC BY-SA 4.0) • Xi Jinping: Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation (CC BY 4.0) • Charlie Munger: Nick, via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)