Alibaba's fall
Alibaba's downfall was swift. Many have credited its beginning to comments made by Ma in October 2020 where he appeared to criticize China's financial regulator.
The comments weren't widely picked up on. Days later, Alibaba's share price hit a record high with its market capitalization exceeding $858 billion.
Alibaba was riding wave of successes that had seen it grow into the biggest e-commerce player in China, with international expansion on the agenda and its cloud business growing quickly. To top it all off, Alibaba affiliate Ant Group was gearing up for an initial public offering that would raise north of $34 billion, making it the biggest listing in history.