<p>Alibaba founder Jack Ma, largely out of public view amid a regulatory clampdown on the group, made a rare visit to its Hangzhou campus on Monday during the e-commerce giant's annual "Ali Day" staff and family event, company sources said.</p>.<p>The billionaire has kept an extremely low profile since delivering a speech in October in Shanghai criticising China's financial regulators, which set off a chain of events that led to the shelving of what would have been a record $37 billion initial public offering of Alibaba's affiliate Ant Group.</p>.<p>On Monday, Ma was seen in an open-air campus shuttle bus with a number of Alibaba executives, according to a photograph taken by an employee at the event, viewed by Reuters. Wearing a blue T-shirt, white trousers and a pair of Chinese-style cloth shoes, Ma was smiling.</p>.<p>"It's so exciting to see Jack," said the employee, declining to be named.</p>.<p>"It's a pity there was no chance to take a photo with him."</p>.<p>China's most famous entrepreneur, Ma enjoyed cult-like status among staff even after stepping down as chairman in 2019.</p>.<p>Ma, who is based in Hangzhou, disappeared from public view for three months before surfacing in January, speaking to a group of teachers by video, which sent Alibaba shares surging, but has not made any other public appearances since then.</p>.<p>Last month, regulators imposed a sweeping restructuring on Ant Group, while Alibaba was hit with a record antitrust fine of 18.2 billion yuan ($2.84 billion) after an investigation found it abused its market dominance.</p>
<p>Alibaba founder Jack Ma, largely out of public view amid a regulatory clampdown on the group, made a rare visit to its Hangzhou campus on Monday during the e-commerce giant's annual "Ali Day" staff and family event, company sources said.</p>.<p>The billionaire has kept an extremely low profile since delivering a speech in October in Shanghai criticising China's financial regulators, which set off a chain of events that led to the shelving of what would have been a record $37 billion initial public offering of Alibaba's affiliate Ant Group.</p>.<p>On Monday, Ma was seen in an open-air campus shuttle bus with a number of Alibaba executives, according to a photograph taken by an employee at the event, viewed by Reuters. Wearing a blue T-shirt, white trousers and a pair of Chinese-style cloth shoes, Ma was smiling.</p>.<p>"It's so exciting to see Jack," said the employee, declining to be named.</p>.<p>"It's a pity there was no chance to take a photo with him."</p>.<p>China's most famous entrepreneur, Ma enjoyed cult-like status among staff even after stepping down as chairman in 2019.</p>.<p>Ma, who is based in Hangzhou, disappeared from public view for three months before surfacing in January, speaking to a group of teachers by video, which sent Alibaba shares surging, but has not made any other public appearances since then.</p>.<p>Last month, regulators imposed a sweeping restructuring on Ant Group, while Alibaba was hit with a record antitrust fine of 18.2 billion yuan ($2.84 billion) after an investigation found it abused its market dominance.</p>