Now, however, he seems to be welcome once again. On February 17th Mr Ma along with a handful of other entrepreneurs met at a symposium in Beijing with Xi Jinping, China’s supreme leader. Many see this as Mr Ma’s rescue from the wilderness—and a sign that, after a prolonged crackdown, private-sector tech is back in favour.

President Xi Jinping met some of China’s most prominent tycoons, sending what analysts say is the strongest signal of support in years to companies like web giants Alibaba and Tencent.

Diane Brady on Xi Jinping’s turn toward the tech sector. The big story: U.S. and Russia in talks on Ukraine. The markets: Treading water. Analyst notes from Goldman Sachs (on the U.S. economy), Apollo (on GDP),

At the Monday meeting, Xi urged the executives to "show their talent" and pledged to support private businesses.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping hosted a meeting with Chinese high-tech tycoons on Monday. Observers said that Xi’s meeting sends a positive signal to “help promote the private sector.” But Xi needs to do more,