Jack Ma's Empire In Hot Waters #China #Ecommerce

China wants a greedy slice of Ant Group
Charlie Richardson
10 March 2021
Jack Ma's Empire In Hot Waters
#China
#Ecommerce

What happened and why?Despite the recent social media stirring question: “Where is Jack Ma?”, Alibaba (- 3,91%) stock swelled +6% after the press reported the founder of the so-called “Amazon of China” wasn’t in fact missing,... but just 'laying low'. A suffering empire…The man who almost single-handedly transformed the Chinese ecommerce hasn’t been seen or heard from since late last October, when Ant Group - Alibaba’s fintech affiliate - was about to become the world’s largest IPO. In his absence, his companies landed in hot waters… A crushed legendary IPO dream: Chinese regulators indefinitely crushed Ant Group’s IPO, criticising the huge fintech for edging out competition and harming consumer rights in the process. Alibaba under trial: Meanwhile, China has also launched an antitrust probation against Alibaba, for monopolistic behaviour. Another uppercut to Jack Ma’s legacy. Poking the bear… Ant Group executives and its founder were called in for “regulatory interviews” just a few days after Jack Ma publicly labeled the Chinese financial regulators “an old people’s club”, stating that "we can't use yesterday's methods to regulate the future" and that there’s no innovation without risk... join the dots. The Takeaway What China wants, China gets… The squashing of Ant Group’s IPO and China’s scrutiny of Alibaba is seen as a potential coup to swoop control for a larger stake of Ma’s empire. Grim predictions... In light of his recent “disappearance”, a 2019 prediction of another Chinese mogul, Guo Wengui, resurfaced on social media. The self-described whistleblower who skedaddled from China in 2014 as a fugitive, shared that Jack Ma’s close future would most likely be either death or jail as China will turn mountains to take a greedy slice of Ant Group.