Why China's Billionaires Keep Disappearing
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Published 2023-04-13
"He described them as having a 'pawnshop mentality,' and that really ruffled a lot of feathers," said Dexter Roberts, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Indo-Pacific Security Initiative and author of The Myth of Chinese Capitalism. "Also, just the brash character of Jack Ma rubbed a lot of regulators and very powerful people in China the wrong way."
Jack Ma wasn't the first billionaire who mysteriously disappeared from public view. In 2015, Guo Guangchang, who is known as China's Warren Buffet, went missing. The company later said he was assisting authorities with an investigation.
In 2017, Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese-Canadian billionaire, was abducted by Chinese security agents from Hong Kong. In 2022, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for fraud and corruption.
The mysterious disappearance of China's billionaires hasn't stopped yet. In February, Bao Fan, a renowned investor banker, became the latest name on the list of 'vanishing billionaires.' However, a few days later, his company said he was "cooperating in an investigation being carried out by certain authorities in the People's Republic of China."
"When someone like Bao Fan disappears, someone that high profile who suddenly vanishes without explanation, that inevitably sends a chilling kind of feel through the rest of the market," said Nick Marro, lead analyst for global trade at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "I mean, how can you feel like you can do business in a place where, you know, an important leader of the industry can suddenly disappear?"
Watch the video above to find out the reasons behind China's 'missing' billionaires and their ripple effects on China's private sectors.
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction
01:23 — China's billionaire boom
03:35 — The rise of Xi Jinping
06:47 — Fearful private sectors?
08:09 — What's next?
Produced by: Anuz Thapa
Narration by: Jordan Smith
Supervising Producer: Jeff Morganteen
Graphics by: Jason Reginato, Alex Wood and Christina Locopo
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All Comments (21)
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In China, Billionaires bow down to the government 🇨🇳 In America, the Government bows down to billionaires 🇺🇸
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Isn't it ironic she said no rights, "even for the rich and famous," as that's the norm in the rest of the world.
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Simple, money doesn’t buy you power in China.
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Holding billionaires accountable for their actions is objectively good. How you hold them accountable is another matter.
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Can we "disappear" some of the billionaires in USA? Please
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Wait billionaires can actually go to prison...wow how is that right, they should buy their way out just like in the US
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because in China, those billionaires are not the owner of the country and its people
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From what I read online, a lot of Americans wish some of their billionaires would disappear.
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Oh, no!! Poor billionaires!!!
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based china
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It should be mentioned that Jack Ma appeared back in China after he gave up control of Ant. He had been hiding in Japan. That was probably the condition for a safe return.
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Can someone please tell me the name of the song used as background at the beginning of this video. CNBC has used it in other videos as well and I have been trying for awhile to find it. Thanks.
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"billionaires keep disappearing" alhamdullilah and based
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Millions of officials have been punished so far for corruption. It’s no surprise that a lot of businessmen have been held accountable for corruption as well.
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The difference between US and China is that the Big corporations, Billionaires in US make an impact of Govt decisions but in China, Govt remains supreme.
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If they really broke the law then yes they should go to jail or disappear. In the US… if a billionaire breaks the law they get special treatment 😂
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Very intriguing!
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That's amazing. Very helpful
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In America money and power are synomous. Our entire government is already bought out by billionares. We aren't so different from China except in China the gov has more leverage. A better balance of power IMO.
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You should rather be asking "Why America's billionaires never disappear".
