Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba Group, has lost $30 billion of his personal fortune due to a nearly two-year conflict with the Chinese authorities, Business Insider reported.

The businessman's fortune hit a record low after China's central bank fined tech giant Ant Group, co-founded by Ma, 7.12 billion yuan—$985 million at current exchange rate.

As of July Wednesday, Ma is worth about $30 billion, about half of his personal funds since October 2020, before the conflict with Beijing.

The billionaire ran into trouble after giving a speech in October 2020 criticizing China's financial regulatory system. Chinese regulators soon began to closely monitor all of Ma's businesses, including Alibaba and Ant. Also in that period, Beijing stopped the primary placement of Ant's securities.

Since the fall of 2022, the billionaire, once China's most famous entrepreneur, has begun to avoid publicity. He has been seen in the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, Thailand, and Japan—but not at public events. This March, he had gone to China to visit a school.

According to an unofficial theory, Beijing tried to convince Ma to return to the mainland to continue working in the country, but the Chinese businessman chose to stay abroad and left his companies. 

According to sources, Ma now resides permanently in Tokyo. In May, he joined Tokyo College of the University of Tokyo as a visiting professor.