Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma takes a big step back from payments company Ant Group

Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma is no longer the head of Ant Group, the payment company of e-commerce group Alibaba, which he founded. The 58-year-old entrepreneur gave up a majority vote in a restructuring of the shareholding structure, according to a press release published on Saturday by Ant Group. Before the changes, Ma owned 50.2% of the company’s voting rights, now he does according to financial news agency Bloomberg another 6.2%.

With the choice, Ma retreats even further, having long been in the spotlight as one of China’s richest men. In recent years, the Chinese government has left almost no resources untouched to limit the power of China’s technology industry. One of the first victims was Ma. He had previously been critical of China’s financial sector and subsequently came under severe government regulation.

First of all, it had to end the IPO of Ant Group, which was expected to be the largest IPO in the world. The company wanted to sell 11% of the shares for $34 billion. After that setback, a major blow followed for Alibaba. The online store giant has been fined a record 18.2 billion yuan (€2.3 billion) for creating a monopoly position. Subsequently, Alibaba was also forced to sell part of its holdings in media companies.

Ma’s step back could still pave the way for the IPO Ant Group is betting on. The group has done a lot in recent years to restructure itself at the discretion of the Chinese authorities. The fact that China’s market watchdog recently approved a $1.5 billion capital raise suggests that China is willing to ease the reins a bit. Due to the redistribution of voting rights, the IPO may be further delayed for legal reasons.