Home » Business » Chinese billionaire Jack Ma relinquishes control of Ant Group

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma relinquishes control of Ant Group

Ant, the finance arm of online store group Alibaba co-founded by Ma, will go public independently in 2020. But the company had to cancel this huge IPO at the last minute, and Chinese regulators later opened an investigation. on the sign in the group.

At the time, Ma also disappeared from the radar for months after falling out with the Chinese government. Since then, he has rarely appeared in public and is no longer involved in Alibaba’s day-to-day operations.

Voting rights

As founder, Ma only owns a 10% stake in Ant, but still holds over 50% of the voting rights through multiple investment vehicles. The company announced on Saturday that new arrangements have been made with its shareholders under which control will be split differently. But retains 6.2% of the voting rights, according to the company’s statement.

Last fall, it looked like the Ant and Ma thing would come to an end. The Reuters news agency later reported that the Chinese authorities intend to fine Ant more than 1 billion dollars. The Financial Times business newspaper later reported that Ma had been living in Tokyo for months now. According to the British newspaper, he has become an “enthusiastic collector” of modern Japanese art.

IPO

Duncan Clark, an expert at the BDA investment advisory firm, points out that it is no coincidence that Beijing wants to close the matter at this moment. “With the Chinese economy in a very troubled state, the government wants to show its commitment to economic growth. And the technology sector is very important for that.”

Ma’s step back could pave the way for Ant to rekindle plans for an IPO. But there are also analysts who point out that an IPO will be further out of the picture because of this adjustment. Companies in China cannot be listed on a major stock exchange if they have undergone such a change of control in the past three years. For the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, this waiting time is one year.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.