Jack Ma withdraws from Ant Group

Simon Lüthje 09. January 2023 · 2 Minuten Lesezeit

--FILE--Jack Ma or Ma Yun, chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, attends the forum of "Business Leaders Dialogue: New Economy in Internet Era" during the fourth World Internet Conference (WIC), also known as Wuzhen Summit, in Wuzhen town, Tongxiang city, Jiaxing city, east China's Zhejiang province, 5 December 2017. Jack Ma, co-founder and chairman of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, said he wants to reform globalization by bringing e-commerce to everyone in the developing world. Ma made the remarks during a panel discussion with Rwandan President Paul Kagame at a session called Digitalizing Emerging Markets at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. "Globalization, in the past 30 or 40 years, helped a lot of countries to grow, especially country like China, Ma said. "But many people don't believe in it because it is not inclusive. How can we improve it? We can make more developing countries get involved," he added. Ma said globalization has been controlled by 60,000 big companies worldwide in the past 20 years, and he wants to expand that to 60 million businesses in the next 30 years, including small enterprises. "Business themselves should make decisions in the next 30 years, with governments as a support," Ma said, adding that Alibaba cannot do it alone.

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has withdrawn from Ant Group, the company he founded. In all likelihood, the withdrawal came under pressure from the dictatorship’s authorities, with whom Ma has been out of favor for several years.

Turbulent past of Ant Group

Ant Group has become one of the world’s largest financial companies under Jack Ma. It is behind the Alipay payment service, which is widely used in China. More than a billion people use it. Two years ago, Ant Group was supposed to go public, but regulators prevented that at the last minute. Ma also caused a stir by disappearing from the public eye after voicing criticism of the Chinese economic system. Again, pressure from the Chinese government was thought to be the primary motivation.

The withdrawal from Ant Group could clear the way for an initial public offering of the company. Without Ma at the helm, regulators are likely to have fewer problems with such corporate plans. Still, it should be kept in mind that policies toward fintech and technology companies in China have become much stricter in recent years. The future of the company therefore remains to be seen, even after Mas’ withdrawal.

Mas’ future is open

The future of Mas himself is also largely unclear. After disappearing from the public eye in 2020, he has rarely spoken out. He reportedly lived in Japan for a time last year. Most recently, he was spotted in Thailand. Ma remains the majority owner of Alibaba, which is also one of the most successful companies in China. The withdrawal from Ant Group is also interpreted as an attempt to bring this second successful company out of the line of fire of the Chinese government.