Global: Chinese billionaire Jack Ma to give up control of Ant Group

Ant Group’s founder Jack Ma will no longer control the Chinese fintech giant after shareholders agreed to implement a series of adjustments.

Ma will give up most of his voting rights, the group said.

The move marks another big development after a regulatory crackdown that put an end to Ant’s $37 billion IPO in late 2020 and led to a forced restructuring of the company.

Ma only owns a 10% stake in Ant, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, but has exercised control over the company through related entities, according to Ant’s IPO prospectus filed with the exchanges in 2020.

Ma is the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group.

Ma previously possessed more than 50% of voting rights at Ant but the changes will mean that his share falls to 6.2%, according to Reuters calculations.

Ant also said it would add a fifth independent director to its board so that independent directors will comprise a majority of the company’s board. It currently has eight board directors.

“As a result, there will no longer be a situation where a direct or indirect shareholder will have sole or joint control over Ant Group,” it said in its statement.

Ant’s market listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai was derailed days after Ma publicly criticized regulators in a speech in October 2020. Since then, his sprawling empire has been under regulatory scrutiny and going through a restructuring.