Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma reduces voting rights in Ant Group, further reducing his influence

Former Chinese high-flyer Jack Ma’s influence has been further limited as Ant Group company he co-founded said it is cutting its voting rights in the fintech company as it restructures in line with a regulatory crackdown.

A statement from Ant Group indicated that Ma’s previous control over more than 50% of the voting rights will be reduced to 6.2%.

Founded by Ma in 2014, Ant operates Alipay, the world’s largest digital payment platform. The platform is used by hundreds of millions of people in China and elsewhere every month.

It is also involved in the distribution of consumer credit and insurance products.

The Ant Group is a subsidiary of the multinational technology company Alibaba Group, also founded by Ma, which operates the popular shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall.

Ma co-founded Alibaba in 1999 and expanded its reach by founding subsidiary Ant Group in 2014. He grew the e-commerce company into a $454 billion empire and changed the way Chinese people shop. In the process, Ma became one of the richest men in the world with a net worth of nearly $42 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

Ma resigned as chairman of Alibaba Group in 2019.

Alibaba’s sprawling operations have made their way to Hollywood in recent years, acquiring stakes in Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners in 2016 and STX in 2019. Green Book for the Chinese public.

The Ant Group company said it is adjusting its ownership structure so that “no shareholder, alone or jointly with other parties, will have control over Ant Group.”

“The adjustment is made to further improve the stability of our corporate structure and the sustainability of our long-term development,” says Ant’s statement.

Ten people – including founders, management and employees – would “exercise their voting rights independently,” it said.

Beijing regulators halted a planned IPO by Ant Group in 2020 after Ma, speaking at a Shanghai summit, accused financial authorities of stifling growth.

Ma has kept a low profile since the IPO was called off.

His wealth fell by about half over the next two years to an estimated $25 billion.

Alibaba Pictures Group is a subsidiary of the Chinese film company Alibaba Group. As of April 2015, it was the largest Chinese film company by value with a market value of US$8.77 billion^.

In 2015, Alibaba Pictures invested in American films for the first time with its financial support from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

Alibaba Pictures has partnered with STX to release the film Peppa celebrates Chinese New Year in 2019.