"Observers are being cautious in drawing any conclusions, with so little confirmed information. BBC cited an Alibaba employee saying that Ma often takes time of

"Observers are being cautious in drawing any conclusions, with so little confirmed information. BBC cited an Alibaba employee saying that Ma often takes time off before the Chinese new year, in February. Martin Chorzempa, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Vice he would expect Ma to be laying low. “You don’t want to be in the public eye when your company is in a very complicated political situation.”"