BEIJING • Mr Jack Ma was conspicuously absent from a list of China's entrepreneurial greats published by state media yesterday, underscoring how the iconic Alibaba co-founder has run afoul of Beijing.

Mr Ma, lionised at home for creating some of his country's largest corporations, did not make the cut in a Shanghai Securities News front-page commentary lauding the leading lights of technology.

Instead, the official Chinese paper held up arch-rival Pony Ma as "rewriting the mobile age" with Tencent Holdings. Also on its list were BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu, Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun and Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei.

The brief editorial - which ran the same day Alibaba Group Holding was slated to unveil earnings - may help assuage fears Tencent could get caught up in a broader industry crackdown now focused on Mr Ma's Alibaba and Ant Group.

Beijing has launched a campaign to curtail the growing power of private technology corporations in almost every facet of Chinese life, as exemplified by the ubiquity of Tencent's WeChat messaging service.

Shares in Tencent and Xiaomi rose more than 2 per cent yesterday.

Mr Ma's absence is telling, given that the Shanghai Securities News is the most important business publication in Alibaba's backyard.

The billionaire made his first public comments last month since disappearing from view late last year, after his rebuke of Chinese regulators prompted a backlash that derailed Ant's record US$35 billion (S$46.6 billion) initial public offering and spurred an investigation into his e-commerce giant.

Much about the future of China's most recognisable and outspoken businessman remains unclear.

"A generation of Chinese entrepreneurs emerged from the rigid structures of our old economic system with the desire to escape poverty and passion to achieve business ambitions," the newspaper, which is backed by the official Xinhua News Agency, wrote.

BLOOMBERG