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(Nov 4): Jack Ma was poised to become Asia’s richest person with Ant Group Co.’s public offering. Instead, his net worth has plummeted by nearly $ 3 billion and both retail investors and investors alike. Institutional institutions that bet on a great first day pop are in limbo.
US-listed shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. fell 8.1% in New York trading after Ant said its Shanghai and Hong Kong listings had been suspended.
Ma, a 56-year-old former English teacher who co-founded Alibaba with $ 60,000 and made it the largest e-commerce company in China, would have risen up the wealth ranking with Ant’s planned $ 35 billion share sale. .
The IPO was the most anticipated in years, attracting at least $ 3 trillion in orders for its double listing. The stampede by stocks had fueled predictions for a big jump on day one and sparked a frenzy among individual investors in China clamoring for a piece. The sale would also have boosted the fortunes of a group of early investors and employees, with more than a dozen people slated to become billionaires.
Ma owns 4.2% of Alibaba, which owns about a third of the fintech company that was expected to go public on Thursday. The Shanghai Stock Exchange suspended Ant trading after Ma was called in for “supervisory interviews” by related agencies, it said in a statement on Tuesday. Ant said Hong Kong’s offer was frozen shortly after.
Even with today’s crash, Ma still has a fortune of about $ 54 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Ant’s other wealthy backers include Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing, the family behind a French supermarket giant, the son of a Taiwanese real estate billionaire and Chinese retail magnate Shen Guojun.
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