A warning to Jack Ma
The People’s Daily, the state mouthpiece, asserted that waging a battle against alleged monopolies is now high on the agenda.
“Anti-monopoly has become an urgent issue that concerns all matters,” it said in a commentary coinciding with the probe’s announcement. It added that “wild growth” in markets needs to be curbed by law.
In November, Ant Group, Ant Financial, and Alipay were preparing for what would have been the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO) but it was suspended in Shanghai and Hong Kong a day after Ma met with Chinese regulators.
The suspension was widely attributed to “changes to the financial technology regulatory environment and other major issues.” However, analysts called the action as a warning to Ma, who had publicly taken a swipe at regulators in a speech shortly before the IPO.
Ma, a powerful Chinese tech entrepreneur, is the co-founder of Alibaba and Ant Group. He is also the richest person in China.
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