Ant Group Chief Executive Simon Hu Resigns, Eric Jing To Step In Amid Beijing's Big Tech Crackdown

The news comes amid a major crackdown on mainland big tech firms, namely after regulators halted Ant Group's historic $37bn initial public offering (IPO) in November last year.
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Ant Group Chief Executive Simon Hu has resigned from the company for personal reasons, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

He was appointed chief executive of the massive fintech firm in 2019 – Hu previously worked for e-commerce giant Alibaba, which was set up by Ant Group's founder Jack Ma. 

Ant Group Chairman Eric Jing will step into Hu's shoes with immediate effect, according to Bloomberg.

The dual-listed IPO was halted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) in November last year, with regulators stating that the IPO had failed to meet disclosure requirements over changes to China's regulatory conditions.

Jing wrote an internal website post vowing to publicly list the company's IPO in a bid to monetise shares, adding the firm would implement a "short-term liquidity solution" set for April, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ant Group to Restructure as Financial Holding Company Under People's Bank of China, WSJ Report Says
Chinese regulators forced the tech firm to restructure as a financial holding company under the People's Bank of China (PBoC) in January.

Investors were refunded roughly $2.8 trillion after it was delisted on the stock exchanges, reports revealed.

Chinese authorities visited Ma a day before the public listing due to comments he made at an event in October last year – he criticised Beijing for "excessive" restrictions in China's financial systems.

 

 

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