SHANGHAI -- Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma has left China for his first overseas trip in more than a year, after his near-disappearance from the public eye in late 2020.

Ma is visiting Spain on an agricultural "study tour," the Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post reported Tuesday. He traveled to Hong Kong shortly before that to spend time with family, the newspaper said.

The trip suggests that Beijing may be ratcheting down the pressure on one of the main targets of its clampdown on big technology companies.

Ma had been in hot water with President Xi Jinping's government over critical comments last year, including an October speech in which he said "good innovation is not afraid of regulation, but is afraid of outdated regulation."

Soon afterward, regulators forced Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial to delay a highly anticipated initial public offering scheduled for the following month. Alibaba itself has faced antitrust scrutiny, and was hit with a record fine in April.

Ma, normally a frequent traveler inside and outside China, stayed out of public view for a time, aside from reports of a few sightings such as at company events. Some media reports indicated he had been restricted from traveling outside the country.

Alibaba shares jumped as much as 9% in Hong Kong on Wednesday after news of Ma's visit to Spain. "This is a clear indication that the [Chinese] regulators have resolved their issues with Alibaba," SCMP quoted a shareholder as saying.

Yet its challenges are far from over. Ant is restructuring under the eye of financial regulators. Major Chinese e-commerce companies -- including but not limited to Alibaba -- are under regulatory pressure that has diminished their earning power.

How this year's upcoming Singles Day shopping extravaganza will fare in this environment is a question of considerable interest to market watchers.