Fintech giant Ant Group said in a statement that its founder Jack Ma is set to give up his control of the firm in a major restructuring.
Photo credit: Frederic Legrand / Shutterstock
Ma, who is also the founder of Ant Group affiliate Alibaba, currently controls the fintech firm through his investment arm Hangzhou Yunbo. On January 7, he agreed to restructure Hangzhou Yunbo into two separate entities and transferred some of his ownership to other executives of Ant Group and Alibaba.
After the adjustment, Ma will see his voting rights in Ant Group reduced from more than 50% to only 6.2%.
The fintech firm will also add a fifth independent director to its board, which currently only has eight members.
As a result of the restructuring, no direct or indirect shareholder will have sole or joint control over the company.
See also: Behind Ant Group’s revived SEA ambitions
Ant Group’s journey to go public was halted in November 2020 due to the scrutiny of the Chinese government. This new development may clear the way for the fintech firm to revive its IPO plan, despite the company having declined that scenario to Reuters.
Editing by Thu Huong Le and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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