Jack Ma

While some analysts have said a relinquishing of control could clear the way for the company to revive its IPO, the changes announced by the group on ...

Since then, his sprawling empire has been under regulatory scrutiny and going through a restructuring. The wait is two years on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR market, and one year in Hong Kong. Ant said on Saturday that its management would no longer serve in the Alibaba Partnership, a body that can nominate the majority of the e-commerce giant's board, affirming a change that started mid-last year. It currently has eight board directors. Ma's ceding of control comes as Ant is nearing the completion of its two-year regulatory-driven restructuring, with Chinese authorities poised to impose a fine of more than $1 billion on the firm, Reuters reported in November. Ant Group's founder Jack Ma will give up control of the Chinese fintech giant in an overhaul that seeks to draw a line under a regulatory crackdown that was triggered soon after its mammoth stock market debut was scuppered two years ago.

Business magnate Jack Ma who controlled over 50 percent of the fintech giant's shares will now hold just 6.2 percent.

Alibaba’s latest earnings data in November showed a loss of 20.6 billion yuan ($3bn) for the third quarter. It led to a forced restructuring of the financial technology firm and speculation the Chinese billionaire would have to cede control. Ma indirectly controlled 53.46 percent of Ant Group’s shares, making him the company’s “control person”. “With the Chinese economy in a very febrile state, the government is looking to signal its commitment to growth, and the tech, private sectors are key to that as we know,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of investment advisory firm BDA China. In a speech at a summit in Shanghai, the mercurial tycoon said banks operated with a “pawnshop” mentality and accused financial watchdogs of stifling growth. Collier explained that Ma is “well-funded, very popular billionaire who controls two large companies” and that he started to compete with some state-owned banks in China which are “the backbone of the economy”.

Ant Group, the fintech sister company of the e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, is one of China's most influential companies.

The capital increase overcomes a key regulatory hurdle, allowing it to issue up to an estimated 500 billion yuan, or 73 billion dollars, worth of consumer loans. 2 official, urged cadres in an economic meeting in December to “vigorously develop the digital economy” and improve their global competitiveness. But its influence and size made it a focus of concern for Beijing as the authorities scrutinized the fintech industry for potential risks to the country’s broader financial system. But it will probably be delayed because of listing requirements. Last year, Ant Group said it would undertake a major government-ordered overhaul of its business to address regulators’ concerns about unfair competition and the amount of data it collects on users. Ma would no longer be the “control person” who holds 34 percent of the company’s shares. Ma was once hailed in China as a model of success, but he faced increasing trouble with the Chinese government, especially after he criticized the nation’s banking regulators in late 2019. It was not immediately clear how Mr. [inappropriately obtained the data of U.S. Instead, he would be one of 10 major shareholders. Ma does not have a management role. Beijing had made Mr.

Ma has mostly disappeared from public view since criticizing Chinese regulators on the eve of the scuttled Ant listing in 2020.

Ma will still hold voting rights and economic interests in the company following the change. Ant’s consumer lending affiliate recently received regulatory approval for a capital injection of 10.5 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), signaling progress in its restructuring and removing a hurdle as it seeks to obtain a financial holding license. The Chinese government’s multi-year crackdown has reined in breakneck growth for the entire internet sector, and left global investors feeling the shockwaves. Ma has mostly disappeared from public view since giving a speech that criticized Chinese regulators on the eve of the scuttled Ant listing in 2020. Companies can’t list domestically on the country’s so-called A-share market if they have had a controller change in the past three years — or in the past two years, if listing on Shanghai’s STAR market. Ant has since focused on overhauling its business operations to appease regulators.

Alibana changed the shopping habits of hundreds of millions, catapulting Mr Ma to international stardom. Read more at straitstimes.com.

But he has faced his share of travails over the years in a country where getting rich risks catching the attention of the powerful. As his fortune grew, Mr Ma rebranded as a philanthropist, in 2019 retiring from the business to focus on giving. The company changed the shopping habits of hundreds of millions of Chinese people and catapulted Mr Ma to international stardom. Charismatic, diminutive and fast-talking, Mr Ma was cash-strapped and working as an English teacher when someone showed him the Internet on a 1990s trip to the United States – and he was hooked. [will now see him cede control of the fintech giant](https://www.straitstimes.com/business/ant-group-says-jack-ma-to-relinquish-control-of-company) he founded in 2014. [stepped out of the limelight](https://www.straitstimes.com/business/alibaba-founder-jack-ma-living-in-tokyo-for-half-a-year-ft-says) since a Communist Party crackdown that chopped back his empire.

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma will no longer control Ant Group after the fintech giant's shareholders agreed to reshape its shareholding structure, ...

As part of the company’s restructuring, Ant’s consumer finance unit applied for an expansion of its registered capital from $1.2 billion to $2.7 billion. Hangzhou is where Alibaba and Ant have been headquartered since their inceptions. Ant added in the statement that the voting rights adjustment, a move to make the company’s shareholder structure “more transparent and diversified,” will not result in any change to the economic interests of any shareholders.

Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma will give up control of Ant Group after a Communist Party crackdown on the country's tech sector.

Mr Ma previously possessed more than 50 per cent of voting rights at Ant but the changes will mean that his share falls to 6.2 per cent, according to Reuters calculations. - Mr Ma previously possessed more than 50 per cent of voting rights at Ant but the changes will mean that his share falls to 6.2 per cent It led to a forced restructuring of the financial technology firm and speculation Mr Ma would have to cede control.

Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview on the sidelines of the Xin Philanthropy Conference in Hangzhou, ...

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