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China's President Xi Jinping personally decided to pull the plug on Ant Group's $37-billion (£28 billion) initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing Chinese officials with the knowledge of the matter.
The decision to stop what would have been the world's largest ever IPO, came days after the fintech giant's billionaire founder Jack Ma launched a public attack on the country's financial watchdogs and banks.
President Xi ordered Chinese regulators to investigate and effectively shut down Ant's stock market flotation, the report said.
Ant Group did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. The Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, could not be reached immediately for comment.
Ma had told a summit in Shanghai on Oct. 24 that the regulatory system was stifling innovation and must be reformed to fuel growth. Earlier this month, Reuters reported the speech set off a chain of events that torpedoed the listing of Ant.
Soon after Ma's scathing speech, state regulators started compiling reports including one on how Ant had used digital financial products like Huabei, a virtual credit card service, to encourage poor and young people to build up debt.
The general office of the State Council compiled a report on public sentiment about Ma's speech and submitted it to senior leaders including President Xi, Reuters had reported.
The decision to stop what would have been the world's largest ever IPO, came days after the fintech giant's billionaire founder Jack Ma launched a public attack on the country's financial watchdogs and banks.
President Xi ordered Chinese regulators to investigate and effectively shut down Ant's stock market flotation, the report said.
Ant Group did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. The Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, could not be reached immediately for comment.
Ma had told a summit in Shanghai on Oct. 24 that the regulatory system was stifling innovation and must be reformed to fuel growth. Earlier this month, Reuters reported the speech set off a chain of events that torpedoed the listing of Ant.
Soon after Ma's scathing speech, state regulators started compiling reports including one on how Ant had used digital financial products like Huabei, a virtual credit card service, to encourage poor and young people to build up debt.
The general office of the State Council compiled a report on public sentiment about Ma's speech and submitted it to senior leaders including President Xi, Reuters had reported.
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5 Comments on this Story
 | RajTill 23 minutes ago FINANCIAL WATCH Dog . Chinese political space can not have watch dogs it has lapdogs only China has free economy but not freedom of speech |
| Shivam Garg2 hours ago Jack ma should have listed the entity in US markets instead of China and paid very heavy price for it |
| Dilip Kumar4 hours ago It is China.... it is controlled by Chinese Communist Party and alarm bell for Hong Kong as well... now growth of China will be subject to CCP.... |