(Bloomberg) – Ant Group has denied a report that the Chinese finance technology company is investigating ways for founder Jack Ma to sell his stake and relinquish control as a way to ease pressure from the country’s regulators.
Reuters reported earlier that officials from the People’s Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission had separate talks with Ma and Ant between January and March, where the possibility of Ma’s retirement was discussed. The report lists people familiar with the matter.
The company hoped that Ma’s interest in existing shareholders in Ant or its e-commerce partner Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. would be sold, Reuters said.
Ant issued a statement to the news agency that the sale of Mom’s stake was not being considered. The company reiterated the denial following the report in a tweet, saying that the sale of Mr. Mom’s interest in Ant Group has never been discussed with anyone. “
The Chinese government has squeezed Ma’s internet empire as part of an effort to indelibly wipe out the country’s technology industry. In rural announcements this month, Alibaba slammed a record $ 2.8 billion fine on Alibaba for abusing its market dominance, and subsequently ordered an overhaul of Ant.
Read more: Jack Ma’s Double-Whammy Marks End of China Tech’s Golden Age
There will effectively be more oversight of Ant, like a bank, a move with far-reaching implications for its growth and the ability to continue with a major first public offering that the government suddenly delayed late last year.
The refurbishment set out by the regulators and the company will see Ant turn itself into a financial holding company, with authorities ordering the firm to open up its payment app to competitors, overseeing how the business stimulates essential consumer lending operations , increase and increase data protection. It will also have to reduce the outstanding value of its money market fund Yu’ebao.
Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Francis Chan said in a report earlier this week that he expects Ant’s valuation to fall below 700 billion yuan ($ 107 billion) from 2.1 trillion yuan in an earlier attempt to go public.
“Ant Group’s prospects may decline further after China stopped the incorrect linking of Alipay payments with Ant’s other products,” he said. “New curb on Yu’ebao is also hurting its prosperity business.”
Ant’s prospects decline on Alipay’s disconnection of products: respond
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