While Jack Ma was trying to save his relationship with Beijing in early November, the beleaguered Chinese billionaire offered to hand over parts of his financial technology giant, Ant Group, to the Chinese government, according to knowledgeable people.
“You can take any of the platforms Ant has as long as the country needs it,” Ma, China’s richest man, suggested during an unusual sit-down with regulators, the people said.
The offer, not previously disclosed, seemed like a mea culpa from Ma when he came face to face with officials from China’s central bank and securities, banking and insurance oversight agencies. The November 2 meeting took place a few days before Ant was due to go public, in what would have been the world’s largest IPO.
Ma had angered Beijing by lashing out in an October speech during President Xi Jinping’s signature campaign to control financial risk, saying it was stifling innovation. Now the regulators had called the meeting to voice their concerns about Ant’s business model.
His bid for the olive branch at the meeting failed to save the IPO and Beijing has since stepped up its efforts to rein in China’s Big Tech giants.
People close to China’s financial regulators say there is no decision to accept Ma’s offer for now. One plan under consideration is to subject Ant to stricter capital and leverage rules. In that scenario, state-owned banks or other types of state investors would buy into Ant to help cover a potential capital shortfall due to the tightened rules.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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