Now, however, he seems welcome once again. On February 17th Mr Ma and 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.

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),

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,