Shares of companies that are in some way linked to Chinese giant Ant Group have started to rise after the news of the withdrawal of its own founder, Jack Ma, was made public. The Chinese government is struggling to maintain its commitment to growth and the technology sector is the most important for the country at the moment.
The fact that Jack Ma will no longer be the controlling shareholder could lead to the growth and IPO of Ant Group, who's shareholders have agreed to make a series of adjustments that will see Jack Ma relinquish the majority of his voting rights. The founder's voting rights will drop from 50% to 6.2%. The news was reported by several media platforms and also by Reuters on its Twitter account.
The move is essential for transparency and increased diversification, no shareholder should no longer have control over such a major Chinese company, which is an affiliate of Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group. Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares gained about 8% after the report was released, boosting its annual gain to 27%. *
* Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
