Disclosure of the cause of the tensions between the Chinese authorities and the founder of “Alibaba”

Sources from the US “Wall Street Journal” have revealed the causes of tension between the Chinese authorities and one of the richest businessmen in the world, the founder of the giant company “Alibaba”, Jack Ma.

According to newspaper sources, at the end of last year, Chinese authorities banned the initial public offering of Ant Financial and Technology from Alibaba, which was to be the largest initial public offering in history, in because of its concerns about the final beneficiaries of the agreement.

A few weeks before the scheduled IPO, Chinese authorities concluded an unannounced investigation, the results of which indicated that Ant did not reveal the complex structure of the entities that run it and hold stakes in it, according to informed sources in the “Wall Street Journal”. “

The investigation found that behind the opaque investment mechanisms, there are parties linked to families and figures with political influence, who challenge Chinese President Xi Jinping.

For example, the discussion focused on billionaire Jiang Zicheng, the grandson of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who had a long-term partnership with Jack Ma, and whose anti-corruption campaigns launched by Xi Jinping have prolonged many of his allies and officials linked to him at an ancient time.

For his part, Ant has denied the lack of transparency in its structure, saying it disclosed all investors in the IPO documents.

The company owns the Alipay application for electronic payments through mobile phones, which is used by over one billion people, and as a result, the company owns the financial data of a large number of people. The company has granted loans to nearly half a billion people, manages the country’s largest financial fund, and provides many other financial services.

This question, in addition to the possibility that investors associated with the company will get around $ 300 billion as a result of the initial public offering, has raised concerns among Chinese authorities.

In late October, Jack Ma sharply criticized Chinese government agencies, claiming that the rules they adopt hamper technological development and innovation, which has angered Chinese officials, according to Wall Street Journal sources.

The newspaper pointed out that the investigation into Ant’s management structure and Ma’s public criticism of the authorities motivated the decision to block the IPO.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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