When Chinese leader Xi Jinping overturned Ant Group’s IPO late last year, his motives seemed clear: He was concerned that Ant was adding risk to the financial system and was furious with founder, Jack Ma, for criticizing his signature campaign about financial supervision.
According to more than a dozen Chinese officials and government advisers, there was another important reason: growing unrest in Beijing over Ant’s complex ownership structure – and the people who would benefit most from what would have been the world’s largest IPO.
In the weeks before the financial technology giant went public, a previously unreported central government investigation found that Ant’s IPO prospectus obscured the complexity of the company’s ownership, officials and government advisers said. of the probe. Behind layers of opaque investment vehicles holding stock in the company lurks a group of well-connected Chinese power players, including some with ties to political families who pose a potential challenge to President Xi and his inner circle.
Those individuals, along with Mr. Ma and the top executives of the company, rose to make billions of dollars from a listing that would have valued the company at more than $ 300 billion.
During his eight years as president, Mr. Xi sidelined many of his rivals, and his hold on power is now comparable to that of Mao Zedong.