Chinese billionaire Jack Ma plans to cede control of the Ant Group, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, after a regulatory crackdown that ended his 2020 IPO and led to a restructuring of the fintech giant.
Although Ma only owns a 10% stake in the group, an affiliate of Alibaba, he exercises control over the company through related entities, according to the company’s IPO prospectus filed with exchanges in 2020.
Hangzhou Yunbo, Ma’s investment vehicle, has control over two other entities that hold a combined 50.5% stake in Ant, the prospectus showed.
The paper said, citing sources, that Ma could cede control by transferring some of his voting power to Ant officials, including Chief Executive Eric Jing.
The report stated that regulators did not demand the change, but gave their approval.
The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
A change in control of Ant could hamper plans to revive its long-awaited IPO, the paper reported, as China’s stock market requires companies to wait three years after a change in control to be listed.
Julie Zhu, Scott Murdoch, Samuel Shen, Josh Horwitz, Selena Li, Susan Mathew and Akash Sriram
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