Alibaba’s Ant Group, which has been halted from listing by Chinese authorities, is now studying options such as letting founder Jack Ma divest his stake and relinquish control, Reuters disclosed, citing multiple sources. The move was prompted by an interview with Chinese regulatory authorities and may be expected to bring an end to the authorities’ “business overhaul” of Ant Group.
Ma’s stake in Ant is reportedly worth billions of dollars. The sources disclosed that Ant wants Ma’s holdings to be sold to Ant or to existing investors in Alibaba Group and not to be involved with any outside entity. But another source with ties to the company said Ma was told in discussions with regulatory authorities that he was not allowed to sell his holdings to any entity or individual with whom he had close ties, but that he would have to exit completely. The other option was to transfer his holdings to government-linked investors, the source said.
The Wall Street Journal previously disclosed that Ma had offered to hand over part of his Ant Group stake to the Chinese government during a meeting with regulatory authorities last November. And according to the sources, officials from the People’s Bank of China and the CBRC interviewed Ma and Ant Group between January and March of this year, in which the possibility of having Ma exit Ant Group was discussed.
So far, Ma’s office, the State Council Information Office, the People’s Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission have not responded to Reuters’ inquiries. Ant Group, for its part, denied that it had considered allowing Ma to divest his holdings of the news in question.
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