When China’s leader Xi Jinping canceled the Ant Group’s initial public offering late last year, his reasons became clear: he was worried that Ant was adding risk to the financial system and was angry with its founder, Jack Ma, because criticized his signing campaign to consolidate financial finances. supervision.
There is another key reason, according to more than a dozen Chinese officials and government advisers: growing uneasiness in Beijing over Ant’s complex ownership structure – and the people who have earned the most from what would have been the highest IPO in the world.
In the weeks before the financial technology giant was released, a previously undeclared central government investigation found that Ant’s IPO prospectus hid the complexity of the company’s property, according to government officials and advisers who knew about the investigation. Behind the layers of opaque investment vehicles with stakes in the company is a coterie of well-connected Chinese players, including some with ties to political families that pose a potential challenge to President Xi and his inner circle.
Those individuals, along with Mr. Ma and the company’s top managers, raised billions of dollars from a list that would have valued the company at more than $ 300 billion.
During his eight years in office, Mr. Xi excluded many of his rivals, and his hold on power now compares to that of Mao Zedong.