End of Jack Ma โ IPO Struck Down
Jack Ma is known to be one of the most influential businesspeople not only in China, but the world. Most known for founding Ant Group and Alibaba, Ma reaped the benefits of a fast-growing Chinese economy in the latter half of the previous decade, raising his net worth to $24.9 billion. However, that number was previously higher, and recent events over the last 3 years explain that.
Ant Group was positioned to have the largest IPO in history back in 2020 due to its presence in society, with their Alipay digital platform serving more than 1 billion users in China. Projected to raise $34 billion and valued at $300 billion, Ma stepped down from Alibaba to invest his time into this. Unfortunately, Beijing struck the IPO down in a flurry of regulatory moves to crackdown on Chinese Big Tech, and Maโs disappearance from the public coincided with his speech criticizing Chinese regulators.
At last, Ma ceded control of Ant Group this past weekend for a multitude of reasons, the main one being the companyโs desire to reduce their reliance on Ma due to the magnitude of his presence. After regulatory moves have reshaped Ant operations in the past year, many view this to be one of the last pieces of an overhaul that allows them to finally pursue the IPO they never got to do, although that wonโt occur for another one to three years due to regulatory rules regarding ownership change. Antโs approved โremodelingโ per say comes as China is starting to let their economy loose with the relaxation of zero-Covid policies, a move that could have greater effects beyond China.
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I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.