China: billionaire and founder of Alibaba Jack Ma to cede control of Ant Group

Alibaba founder Jack Ma, seen ahead of the World Conference on Artificial Intelligence, on September 17, 2017, in Shanghai.

(illustrative image) © AFP

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The founder and former boss of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Jack Ma will cede control of fintech company Ant Group as part of a restructuring, the company announced on Saturday (January 7th).

In recent months, the Chinese communist regime has multiplied the blows against large firms in the sector, trying to bring them back under its influence.

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Jack Ma, one of China's most famous businessmen, has been the symbol of the

self-made man

 for a generation of Chinese technology moguls, with his atypical personal journey and his sense of showmanship.

But the former English teacher

withdrew from the public eye

after

Beijing blocked Ant Group's proposed 2020 Hong Kong IPO

following his scathing comments about government regulators.

The company announced in a statement on Saturday that it was adjusting its ownership structure so that “ 

no shareholder, alone or jointly with other parties, has control of Ant Group

 ”.

The statement also exposed the company's previous complex structure, which showed that Mr. Ma " 

indirectly

 " controlled 53.46% of the shares.

He will only hold 6.2% of the voting rights after the adjustment, according to information in the statement:

“ 

This adjustment is being implemented to further strengthen the stability of our corporate structure and the sustainability of our long-term development.

 »

Ten people - including the founder, management and staff - " 

will exercise their voting rights independently

 ", the company said.

The adjustment will not change the economic interests of shareholders.

A future relaxation with Beijing, after a detrimental withdrawal from the stock market?

Ant Group's planned IPO would have been a world record at the time and

its damaging withdrawal

came as Mr Ma's other business interests were under official scrutiny.

Beijing also fined Alibaba a record $2.75 billion over alleged unfair practices.

In a sign that the noose may now be loosening, authorities said last month that Ant Group had obtained approval to raise 10.5 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) for its consumer credit arm.

The company may soon increase its registered capital from eight billion yuan to 18.5 billion yuan, according to a notice issued on Dec. 30.

News of the approval sent shares of Alibaba soaring nearly 9% in the Hong Kong square, while other tech companies were also boosted by hopes that the crackdown on the sector could s 'mitigate.

► To read also: 

Ant Group, the online payment subsidiary of Alibaba in the crosshairs of Beijing

(With

AFP

)

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