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In addition to other indications that China’s government is easing pressure on the entrepreneur as he takes a step back from a business empire that had made him one of the nation’s most powerful individuals, Jack Ma is taking a weeks-long tour of Europe after virtually disappearing from public view for almost two years.
According to reports from Bloomberg and regional media, the 57-year-old co-founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has visited restaurants in Austria, visited a university in the Netherlands to learn about sustainable agriculture, and anchored his boat off the Spanish island of Mallorca.
Even while it isn’t Ma’s first travel outside of China since he lambasted Communist Party leaders in 2020 over the regulation of his fintech business Ant Group Co., it represents a significant shift from the times when the authorities forbade the billionaire from leaving the nation. Alibaba shares quickly dropped $26 billion after a state media claim that authorities had put limitations on a person bearing the last name Ma, showing how uneasy investors had been about the tycoon’s destiny just two months prior. It was evident from later evidence that the report was making reference to someone else.
Ma had to make a lot of adjustments in order to escape the government’s clutches. Ant revamped operations to conform with stricter controls after authorities halted the business’s much anticipated initial public offering in 2020. The company also routinely consults with the nation’s central bank on how to “rectify” operations. Early on, Ant’s success in areas like money market deposits and digital payments put the state-backed banks’ hegemony in jeopardy.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Ant has also orally indicated to regulators that Ma wishes to relinquish leadership of the firm. They have been communicating their intentions to officials and the central bank for years. One of the persons said that one idea being considered included giving Ma’s shares to other executives so that a committee may manage the firm.
Ma “intends to lower and afterwards restrict his direct and indirect economic stake in Ant Group over time” to a level that does not exceed 8.8%, Alibaba stated in a filing this week. Ma has 50.52 percent of the vote power in Ant at the moment.
If Ma gives up power, “a huge key man risk will be taken off Ant’s neck,” according to Justin Tang, the head of Asian research at United First Partners.
Requests for comment from Ant, Alibaba, and Ma’s foundation received no immediate response. A faxed request for comment received no response from the Chinese central bank.
