Jack Ma
Photographer: Marlene Awaad / Bloomberg
Photographer: Marlene Awaad / Bloomberg
Ant Group explores ways for founder Jack Ma to sell his stake and give up the Chinese financial technology company as a way to ease the pressure on the country’s regulators, Reuters reports and names people familiar with the matter.
Officials from the People’s Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission held separate talks with Ma and Ant between January and March, where the possibility of Ma’s retirement was discussed, Reuters reported.
The company hoped that Ma’s stake would be sold to existing shareholders in Ant or its e-commerce partner Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Reuters said. Ant issued a statement to the news agency in which he denied that the sale of Mom’s interest had ever been considered.
Read more: Jack Ma’s Double-Whammy Marks End of China Tech’s Golden Age
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.
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.
Francis Chan, senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, 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 at the 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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