Jack Ma’s fintech giant Ant (formerly known as Ant Financial) was scheduled to become a public company in late 2020 but orders from Beijing quickly put an end to those plans. According to The Wall Street Journal’s sources, we might now know what happened before the scenes.
More than just Ma’s public comments
Ma, a co-founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) is considered one of, if not the most powerful private citizens in China. So when he publicly spoke out against China’s financial system, Beijing took immediate action.
Chinese authorities initiated a new anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba while Ant officials were summed for “supervisory and guidance talks.”
According to WSJ’s sources, Ant’s botched IPO was the result of more than just Ma’s public comments. According to more than a dozen Chinese officials and government advisors, Beijing was concerned with Ant’s ownership structure.
Hiding behind Ant’s complex ownership structure are very well connected political individuals who would pocket billions of dollars and “represent a potential challenge” to China President Xi Jinping and his government, WSJ noted.
Under Xi’s leadership, he acted swiftly to prevent the quick and vast accumulation of wealth that Ant’s major shareholders would have collected as part of what is described as an anti-corruption campaign.
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Ant’s investors are named
One of the major investors in Ant that stood to make a lot of money was Boyu Capital, a private-equity firm founded by Jiang Zhicheng, a grandson of ex-Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, according to WSJ. Jiang’s close allies were among those impacted by
