Ant Group, the financial arm of Alibaba Group, which owns the AliPay payment system, announced changes to the composition of shareholders and the distribution of voting rights. According to its results, the company’s founder, Jack Ma, will lose control of Ant Group.
The report says that four independent directors now make up half of the company’s board of directors. Ant Group plans to increase their number to five, as a result of which independent directors will receive a majority on the board.
The procedure for exercising the voting rights of the company’s shareholders is also changing: from Jack Ma to ten people, including the founder, management representatives and staff. In fact, this will deprive Ma of control over Ant Group.
Now the company founder and three other investors own a total of 53.46% of Ant Group. After all the changes, Ma will only have 6.2% left, Bloomberg estimates.
The decision was made in order to optimize corporate governance and “coordinate the interests of shareholders when voting with their economic interests.” Shareholders’ actions in the company will not change.
Ant Group planned to hold the largest IPO on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges for $34.5 billion in November 2020. After Jack Ma’s speech criticizing Chinese regulators, the listing failed and the company thought about sell the founder’s stake and his departure from management. .
In November 2022, the Financial Times reported that Ma had left China and had been living in Tokyo for several months.
Photo: THINK A / Shutterstock
Author:
Ahmed Sadulayev
Source: RB
I am Bret Jackson, a professional journalist and author for Gadget Onus, where I specialize in writing about the gaming industry. With over 6 years of experience in my field, I have built up an extensive portfolio that ranges from reviews to interviews with top figures within the industry. My work has been featured on various news sites, providing readers with insightful analysis regarding the current state of gaming culture.
