How has Jack Ma Lost Over $4 billion in Just Three Years?
Over the past three years, the well-known business mogul Jack Ma has seen a dramatic fall in his wealth. Ma caused this decline by making a crucial speech that derailed what was about to take place as the biggest share sale in history. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ma’s fortune has decreased by $4.1 billion over the past year, which is mostly attributable to the sharp decline in Ant Group’s value, the fintech behemoth that he co-founded but no longer controls. Bloomberg reports that Ma currently owns 9.9% of Ant.
Ma, who was formerly regarded as Asia’s richest person, now has a net worth of about $30 billion, which is less than half of its high value of $61.2 billion in 2020 before facing difficulties that year, according to the index. Ant Group, best known for its Alipay digital payment system, is currently engaged in a share buyback that values the business at $78.5 billion, a 75% decrease or a loss of $230 billion from its 2020 valuation. Ant Group is best known for its Alipay digital payment system, which is widely utilized in mainland China.
The combined market cap losses of Ant Group and Alibaba, the e-commerce company that Ma also co-founded, reached an astounding $877 billion. The timing of CNN’s calculations, which are based on high share values in late October 2020, matches up with when Ma made his famous speech in which he criticized Chinese financial regulators and banks.
Just a few days before Ant Group was supposed to IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong, Ma’s criticism sparked an unprecedented crackdown on private companies in China. As a result, numerous tech companies across the nation are now under closer regulatory investigation. Chinese regulators abruptly stopped Ant Group’s $37 billion initial public offering in November 2020 and ordered a business restructuring.
Ma has kept a quiet profile ever since. According to reports, he has visited both Hong Kong and Japan, where his friend and SoftBank CEO Masa Son, an Alibaba investor, lives. Ma has also committed more time to philanthropy and taken on the position of visiting professor at a university in Tokyo. Additionally, he has distanced himself from the businesses he built, giving up management of Ant Group in January 2021 and retiring as chairman of Alibaba at the age of 55 in 2019.
Recently, Ant Group and its subsidiaries faced fines totaling $984 million from Chinese financial regulators for alleged violations related to consumer protection and corporate governance. These penalties are seen by analysts as a sign that the regulatory crackdown has finally come to an end.
Alibaba declared its intentions to divide into six distinct businesses, each with its own chief executive and board of directors, in March. Through this new structure, the company hopes to increase agility and unlock more value for investors.
