Well folks, hold onto your hats because we’ve got some mysterious billionaire disappearances happening in China. It’s like a game of Where’s Waldo, except instead of a striped shirt and beanie, these folks have boatloads of cash and impeccable suits. First up, we have Guo Guangchang, who disappeared in 2015 like a magician pulling a disappearing act. His company later claimed he was just “assisting authorities with an investigation.” Right, and I’m assisting authorities with an investigation into why I ate an entire bag of chips last night.
Next up, we have Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese-Canadian billionaire who was straight-up abducted by Chinese security agents from Hong Kong in 2017 like some sort of spy character in a James Bond movie. And the cherry on top? In 2022, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for fraud and corruption. Seems like Xiao really got the short end of the stick there.
But wait, there’s more! In February of this year, Bao Fan joined the ranks of the “vanishing billionaires.” Rumor has it he’s just “cooperating in an investigation being carried out by certain authorities in the People’s Republic of China.” Cue the mystery music and detective hats, folks. This is turning into quite the game of Clue.
As you can imagine, these vanishing acts are having a ripple effect on China’s private sectors. According to Nick Marro, lead analyst for global trade at The Economist Intelligence Unit, “When someone like Bao Fan disappears, someone that high profile who suddenly vanishes without explanation, that inevitably sends a chilling kind of feel through the rest of the market.” Yeah, no kidding, Nick. Who knows who’s going to disappear next? Maybe it’ll be our favorite noodle shop owner or the guy who sells us our daily caffeine fix.
So, chin up, China. We may not know where these billionaires have disappeared to, but at least we know they’re probably living out their secret agent fantasies with a martini in hand.

Serious News: cnbc