An Ant Group logo is displayed at the company’s headquarters, a subsidiary of Alibaba, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, October 29, 2020.
Aly Song | Reuters
GUANGZHOU, China – Ant Group will find a ‘liquidity solution’ for employees to earn shares after regulators withdrew its massive initial public offering (IPO), according to a general manager at the company.
Eric Jing, executive chairman of the Chinese financial technology company created by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, also pledged to list the company.
An employee posted on Ant Group’s internal message board about the future of the business and how to retain talent. Jing said in response that the technology giant was investigating a ‘short-term liquidity solution’ for employees to take effect in April, without elaborating on what it could mean, a person who saw the memo told CNBC.
Ant Group declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the content of the message.
Many employees of Ant Group hold shares in the company as a form of compensation. Usually, employees can pay out those shares or earn money if the company is acquired, or management decides to buy back shares.
Ant Group, the owner of the popular Chinese mobile payment app Alipay, planned a $ 34.5 billion exchange in Shanghai and Hong Kong in November, which would have been the largest of all time. However, regulators forced the company to suspend the listing two days before it would start trading. Ant mentioned ‘important issues such as the changes in the regulatory environment of financial technology’.