The cost of China's anti-monopoly probe against Alibaba saw Jack Ma's wealth deteriorating by almost $11 billion since the end of October. Ma, who reached a peak of $61.7 billion this year and was poised to regain the title of Asia's wealthiest person, now has a fortune worth only $50.9 billion.
He has slipped to 25th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, since the Chinese regulators have ordered Ant Group, the world's largest financial technology company, to rectify its businesses and comply with regulatory requirements amid increased scrutiny of anti-monopoly practices in the country's internet sector.
also read
- Alibaba plans to promote those born after 1985 to make core business management team younger
- Where is Jack Ma now? Alibaba co-founder turns to farm-tech as he makes a comeback
- Thousands to lose jobs in Disney, Alibaba layoffs
- Billionaire Jack Ma expected to give up control of fintech company Ant Group
Ma's problems began just as he was preparing to take payments company Ant Group public. Instead, Chinese regulators pulled what would have been the world's largest initial public offering just two days before its scheduled debut in November.
Chinese regulators in November halted Ant's $37 billion stock debut in Shanghai and Hong Kong over regulatory changes. Ant Group, in which Ma is the largest shareholder, is now the world-largest digital payments platform, claiming 731 million monthly users on the Alipay app. It is pertinent to recall that more than 90 per cent of the revenue Alibaba receives is in the domestic market.
On the face of it, it looks like the ever-charismatic and ebullient Jack Ma has disappeared from the spotlight after the dressing down. Reportedly, he has been advised by the government to stay in the country.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ma himself had already offered to hand over slices of Ant in what looks like a peace offering to Beijing before the IPO was pulled.
