Chinese business magnate Jack Ma, who created both Alibaba and Ant Group, will no longer be in charge of the fintech subsidiary. The new company’s structure will reduce Ma’s voting rights to 6.2 percent, according to an announcement on Saturday, CNN repors.
Before the restructuring, Ma held 50.52 percent of voting rights at Ant via Hangzhou Yunbo and two other entities, according to its Initial Public Offer (IPO) prospectus filed with stock exchanges in 2020.
Jack ma is one of the billionaires the Chinese authorities have continued to crack down on.
For months now, Ma has been leaving outside of his home country and was recently spotted in Thailand. Before the restructuring, Ma held 50.52 percent of voting rights at Ant via Hangzhou Yunbo and two other entities, according to its IPO prospectus filed with stock exchanges in 2020.
Analysts believe the action to remove Jack Ma from controlling power is at the behest of the Chinese authorities.
However, Ant Group in a statement said: “The adjustment is being implemented to further enhance the stability of our corporate structure and sustainability of our long-term development.
“The main result of the Adjustment will be to change the exercise of voting rights of Ant Group’s major shareholders, from Mr Jack Ma exercising voting rights jointly with persons acting in concert, to each of ten individuals (including the founder, representative of our management and employees) exercising their voting rights independently”.
Jack Ma troubles ran into trouble with the Chinese government over violating anti-monopoly regulations and has kept a low profile since 2020. In the last few months, he has been reported to have lived in Tokyo for about six months and is now in Thailand.
Once China’s richest man, Ma’s net worth has fallen by more than $25 billion since he disappeared from public view, According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is currently the 34th richest man in the world with a net worth of $34.1 billion.
It is expected that the latest crackdown could affect his net worth in the coming weeks.
