Xi Jinping was outraged by the businessman’s dissatisfaction with the rules governing the country’s high-tech industry.
Chinese President Xi Jinping personally gave the order to suspend the placement of shares of the financial and technological company Ant Group (a subsidiary of Alibaba), which was entering the Chinese stock market.
Xi Jinping’s displeasure was sparked by a speech by Jack Ma in Shanghai on October 24, when he quoted the Chinese president and criticized the rules governing the country’s high-tech industry Technologies.
“Success should not come from me,” Ma said at the time, adding that he wanted to help China solve financial difficulties through innovation.
In turn, Xi Jinping sees in such statements an attempt by Ma to strengthen his personal reputation and to question the actions of China’s regulatory authorities.
“Xi doesn’t care if you are on any of the richest people’s lists or not. He cares about what you do when you become rich and whether you match your interests with the interests of the state,” said one Chinese officials.
As the sources highlights, relations between Ma and the Chinese government have remained tense for many years: the authorities are worried about the influence of the entrepreneur and the rapid growth of the company he controls.
At the same time, Ant Group’s listing on the stock exchange could be the largest IPO in history and break Saudi Aramco’s record of $ 29.4 billion, set at the end of 2019. However, on November 3, the Shanghai Stock Exchange suspended the company’s listing. The next day, it became known that the China Securities Regulatory Committee approved the suspension of the listing due to “changes in the conditions of financial and technical supervision”, saying that the hasty placement conflicts with the principles of doing business, based on legal regulations of the state regulation system.
Recall that the founder of Alibaba is no longer the richest in China. The head of the online game’s distributor Tencent ahead of Jack Ma in the ranking of world’s billionaires.
It was also reported that Alibaba earned a record $75 billion on Bachelor Day. Last year’s $38 billion marks reached the first half of sales.