Simon hu
Source: Visual China Group via Getty Images
Source: Visual China Group via Getty Images
Simon Hu, Chief Executive Officer of Ant Group Co., resigned from the company, according to a knowledgeable person, as the company review its operations.
Hu resigned for personal reasons, the person said, who asked not to be identified because the information is not public. Eric Jing, already the chairman of Ant, will also become CEO immediately, the person said. A spokesperson for Ant confirmed Hu’s resignation.
Hu, who joined Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in 2005. came after working at China’s second largest lender, China Construction Bank, had built a reputation for rolling out innovations such as using data analytics to provide collateral-free financing services to small businesses and helping Alibaba beat Amazon.com Inc. to build Asia’s largest cloud company.
He moved from Alibaba to Ant in November 2018 as president, and took over as CEO in December 2019.
Ant has been at the center of the regulatory crackdown as China focuses on pushing tech companies to finance. The $ 35 billion IPO was abruptly suspended in November. China’s central bank then ordered the Hangzhou-based company to transform itself into a financial holding company, a move that would subject it to capital constraints, the need for new licenses and ownership control. The overhaul could lower the financial juggernaut’s valuation by about 60% from the $ 280 billion it was pegged to last year, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Francis Chan estimates.
The resignation comes days after Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang pledged to the National People’s Congress to expand financial technology oversight, eradicate monopolies and prevent “unregulated” capital expansion. All three of the country’s financial watchdogs have made it their primary goal this year to curb the “reckless” pressure from tech companies to finance.
– With the help of Lulu Yilun Chen, Zheng Li and Jun Luo
Updates with details everywhere