The background of the founder should allow Alibaba and its financial subsidiary to turn the page on a painful regulatory campaign for web platforms.
By Simon Leplâtre (Shanghaï, Correspondence)
The founding charismatic of Alibaba will cede the control of Ant Group, the financial subsidiary of Alibaba, which he had 50.52 % so far. This is the last step of a background for the Chinese tech and innovation icon, fell into disgrace at the end of 2019. After more than two years of web platforms regulatory campaign, the authorities seem to want to restore air to this sector which employs many young graduates.
The sale of the shares of Jack Ma, which has become a sulphurous figure, could allow Alibaba and Ant Group to turn the page of a difficult period marked by the cancellation, by the authorities, of the IPO ‘Ant Group, at the end of 2020, and by a record fine of 18 billion yuan (2.48 billion euros at the time), inflicted on Alibaba for abuse of dominant position.
Monday January 9 in the morning, the president of the banking and insurance control commission, Guo Shuqing, announced that the “rectification” campaign of fourteen web platforms was “essentially finished, with a few little problems to solve “. Investors welcomed these two announcements with enthusiasm: Action Alibaba on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange won 7.8 % on Monday morning, while Hang Seng Tech Index, which brings together technological values in Hong Kong, increased by 3 %.
Caution rules
The company announced, Saturday January 7 in a press release, that it adjusted its structure of property, so that “no shareholder, alone or jointly with other parties, has control of Ant Group “. Jack Ma, who had abandoned Alibaba’s executive management in 2018, still controlled “indirectly” 53.46 % of the shares, according to the press release. It will only hold 6.2 % of the voting rights and will share the control of the company with nine other people.
ant Group had announced a major restructuring of its activities in April 2022, the main element of which was the implementation of a holding company to bring together its credit activities, which would be registered as a finance company and subject to regulations of the regulations banking sector. In 2020, the regulator had accused Ant for providing financial services while claiming to be a technology company and not a bank, thus escaping the prudence rules imposed on the sector.
Ant Group was created in 2011 to bring together Alibaba’s financial activities. The company is known to the general public through the Alipay application: a simple payment tool created for the Taobao online sales platform, in 2003, the app has become an omnipresent electronic portfolio in China, which has Diversified to offer investments, credits and insurance, carried out live, and hundreds of other partners’ services (meal order, taxi booking, travel, invoice payment, etc.).
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