Chinese authority | Business Upturn

TikTok owner ByteDance aims for Hong Kong IPO amid China’s tech crackdown

Sneha Sengupta — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 10:27:55 +0000

TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. is revamping strategies to get listed in Hong Kong by early next year despite China’s decision to prolong the crackdown on the country’s technology companies, reported by the Financial Times reported. The listing is probable to occur during the next quarter or in early 2022.

According to the Financial Times, the company declined to comment on this stance. China’s Business Herald also stated that ByteDance denied the report of a revived Hong Kong IPO as “untrue.”

ByteDance has been constantly working on the security grounds raised by the Chinese regulators, as reported by the Financial Times. The company is going through a sturdy review process and have submitted filings to the Chinese authorities, wherein, the final word is expected from ByteDance by September. In July, Dow Jones stated that “ByteDance put on hold indefinitely its intentions to list offshore earlier this year after government officials told it to focus on addressing data-security risks.”

President Xi Jinping launched a sweeping regulatory reform, last month for the $100 billion education tech sector, in a motive to selloff at $1.5 trillion from Chinese stocks. Since July, the Chinese government has effectually stopped listings from overseas to promote data security about the ride-hailing company Didi Global Inc.’s controversy of $4.4 billion generated IPO.

Officials also shocked investors with fresh guidelines ordering online food delivery firms to ensure that workers earn at least the local minimum wage. Last week, Tencent Holdings Ltd., China’s one of the best corporations, faced an overwhelming defeat at the stocks just after the Chinese state media ranted the “spiritual opium” of online games.

Where is Jack Ma? Is he really missing or is he arrested?

Arjun Kalia — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 18:14:22 +0000

The disappearance of the founder of one of the largest e-commerce companies has triggered many conspiracy theories with netizens wondering about his whereabouts. Reportedly, it’s been 2 months since Alibaba’s founder has not been seen in the public, the same time he had hit out on the national regulators through his blunt speech.

Some conspiracy theories suggest that Ma has been put under house arrest while others suggest that he has been arrested by the Chinese regulators. China has a history of not unveiling information on arrests of big personalities, so there are chances of these theories turning true. Well, these are just speculations.

The point to note here is that it’s not the first time that Chinese billionaires have suddenly disappeared, this has happened a few times before especially during China’s infamous anti-corruption drive between 2016 and 2017 when many of them were arrested and the whereabouts of a few are still not known. It was in the month of December 2020 when China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) had started an investigation on Alibaba Group for alleged monopoly conduct.

It was in September 2018 that Jack Ma had announced his retirement and had decided to devote his time to philanthropy, travelling and rural education and said “Alibaba is but one of my dreams. I’m still young” in an event, so there is a slight possibility that maybe the billionaire is keeping a low profile and has hit the road to achieve his other dreams.

While Jack Ma is missing the Chinese authorities are already tightening a grip over his business empire, including the Ant Group whose $37 billion IPO was suspended after receiving the green light from the Chinese Securities watchdog.

The scrutiny has led to a slump in Alibaba’s shares by a quarter since the peak, wiping over $10 billion from his fortune and resulting him to fall to the third place on the list of China’s wealthiest people.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ma’s current net worth is estimated at $50.1 billion.

Where is Jack Ma, is he missing?

Arjun Kalia — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 08:14:20 +0000

It’s been more than two months that the founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma has not made a public appearance. People were doubtful about his whereabouts since the time Jack Ma failed to show up as a judge in the final episode of his own talent show, Africa’s Business Heroes, where he was replaced by an Alibaba Executive. Ma’s hectic schedule was cited as a reason for his absence by an Alibaba spokesperson.

The 56-year-old billionaire hasn’t made a public appearance since the time he delivered a controversial speech in Shanghai on 24th October in which he complained about how China’s regulators and state-run banks are hampering opportunities.

“Today’s financial system is the legacy of the Industrial Age,” Ma said in the speech. “We must set up a new one for the next generation and young people. We must reform the current system,” he said.

Chinese authorities are already tightening a grip over his business empire, including the Ant Group whose $37 billion IPO was suspended after receiving the green light from Chinese Securities watchdog, with the Shanghai Stock Exchange saying that the Ant Group had reported significant issues such as the changes in financial technology regulatory environment.

US veteran investor Mark Mobius said that the move was designed so as to curtail financial institutions from getting too big.

In the past, there have been a few such incidents where Chinese billionaires have suddenly disappeared especially during China’s infamous anti-corruption drive between 2016 and 2017.

Ant group’s listing suspended by Chinese authorities

Shlok Arya — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 08:35:41 +0000

As the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma was about to sell shares of Ant Group worth $37 billion on Thursday, making it the biggest stock market debut in the world the Chinese authorities suspended the listing at the eleventh-hour citing the reason due to major regulatory issues.

In the aftermath of the suspension, Alibaba saw a share price decline by 9.6 percent and 9.1 percent in Hong Kong and New York respectively. In 2014, Alibaba broke the record for the biggest stock debut in both the markets. The drop in share price erased nearly $76 billion off its value, twice the amount Jack Ma was planning to raise.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange in a statement said, “Mr Ma had been called in for supervisory interviews.”

Due to a change in the regulatory, Ant Group no longer meets the listing conditions or information disclosure requirements. As a consequence, it was decided to suspend Ant’s listing on the stock exchange.

The company was due to selling 11% of its shares at the price of $313 billion across the two stock exchanges. Last December, Saudi Aramco debuted with $29.4 billion, making it the largest listing in the world.

The firm’s executives along with Mr Ma were called in by Chinese authority for a discussion on regulating the sprawling fintech firm. However, the media reports are indicating that the meeting will address the comments made by Mr Ma at a fintech conference in October. In the conference, Mr Ma compared the merits of the digital banking system with the traditional “pawn shop.”

The company in a message to investors said, “Ant Group sincerely apologies to you for any inconvenience caused by this development. We will properly handle the follow-up matters in accordance with applicable regulations of the two stock exchanges.”