Speculations have been spiralling about the whereabouts of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma as he has not made any public appearance over couple of months.

Different local and international media reported that the Alibaba founder has reportedly gone missing following conflict with the Chinese government.

Jack Ma failed to appear as scheduled in the final episode of his own talent show, Africa's Business Heroes, reports Yahoo Finance.

Ma was supposed to be part of the judging, but was replaced by an Alibaba executive in the November final, reports UK based daily Telegraph. His picture was also taken off the website.

An Alibaba spokesperson said Ma was unable to take part on the judging panel "due to a schedule conflict", according to Financial Times.

Ma's business empire, Ant Group, has been under scrutiny by Beijing ever since he delivered a speech in Shanghai on October 24  that criticised China's regulation system for "stifling innovation" and likened global banking rules to an "old people's club".

But US veteran investor Mark Mobius said the move was designed to curtail financial institutions from getting too big.

"I believe the Chinese government stepped in because they realised that they had to regulate these companies, so that they don't … get too big," he told CNBC.

Chinese authorities launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba in late December and told Ant Group to restructure its operations, Yahoo Finance reports.

Ma's last tweet was on October 10 last year, the report reads.