Jack Ma, the ebullient and unconventional billionaire founder of tech giant Alibaba, now finds himself battling the ignominy of having the world's biggest-ever IPO halted days before its launch by Chinese regulators.

The most recognisable face in Asian business, Ma was set to see his wealth bulge to over $70 billion in a record-breaking IPO of the group's financial arm Ant Group in Hong Kong and Shanghai on Thursday.

But with IPO fever peaking, Chinese regulators abruptly slammed on the brakes, over what initially appeared to be concerns about the company's reach into the finances of hundreds of millions of Chinese people.

Now China's poster boy for entrepreneurialism finds himself caught in the glare of the Communist-run state, called in for a dressing down this week before the $34 billion listing was abruptly halted.

It is a public relations nightmare for Ma, a Communist Party member, whose rags-to-riches backstory has come to embody a self-confident generation of Chinese entrepreneurs ready to shake up the world.

Charismatic, diminutive and fast-talking, Ma was a cash-strapped entrepreneur working as an English teacher when someone showed him the internet on a 1990s trip to the United States -- and he was hooked.

He toyed with several internet-related projects, before convincing a group of friends to give him $60,000 to start a new business in 1999 in China, then still emerging as an economic giant.

Alibaba was the result, an e-commerce empire founded from his bedroom in Hangzhou, which started an online shopping revolution and grew into a fintech titan.

The company changed the shopping habits of hundreds of millions of Chinese people, and catapulted Ma into the global limelight.

"The first time I used the internet, I touched on the keyboard and I find 'well, this is something I believe, it is something that is going to change the world and change China,'" Ma once told CNN.

In 2014, Alibaba listed in New York in a world-record $25 billion offering.

Ant Group, in which Ma is the largest shareholder, is now the world-largest digital payments platform, claiming 731 million monthly users on the Alipay app.

- Crossed the line? -

Ma long enjoyed an image as the benevolent and unconventional billionaire.

Often known in China as "Father Ma", he is praised for his self-deprecation -- he recounts being rejected by Harvard "10 times" -- and a knack for lighting up company events with song and dance appearances as Lady Gaga, Snow White and Michael Jackson.

As his fortune grew, Ma rebranded as a philanthropist -- in 2019 retiring from the business to focus on giving.

But even his charitable giving betrays an idiosyncratic touch.

After footage of a little boy in a village in central China who looked like Ma went viral, the businessman promised to pay for the boy through university.

But that reputation may be in the balance with the regulatory slap-down playing into a growing sense shared on China's Twitter-like Weibo that the country's richest man has leaned into hubris by criticising fintech regulators.

He has faced his share of travails over the years in a country where getting rich risks catching the eyes of the powerful.

Eyebrows were raised when the state-run People's Daily revealed that he is a member of the Communist Party -- something Ma has never fully commented on.

He had previously indicated that he preferred to keep the state at arm's length, telling the World Economic Forum in 2007: "My philosophy is to be in love with the government, but never marry them."

But perhaps the biggest challenge is yet to come, as the size and scale of his business mean that relationship may need to be renegotiated.

Ant Group: China's fintech flyer grounded by regulators
Beijing (AFP) Nov 4, 2020 - Set for a record-busting $34 billion IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Ant Group has had its wings summarily clipped by Chinese regulators.

Backed by Jack Ma, China's richest man who founded the Alibaba e-commerce empire two decades ago, Ant is a financial technology titan stitched into the everyday life of hundreds of millions of Chinese people through its easy mobile payments system.

But the group -- which has more than 700 million monthly active users -- has drawn concern in China's state-controlled finance sector by venturing into personal and consumer lending, wealth management and insurance.

Outside China it is less well known. So what is Ant?

- Ma's early vision -

Ant Group is the parent company of Alipay, China's pioneering digital payments firm, which was founded by Ma in 2004.

A former teacher, Ma started in digital sales with the Alibaba e-commerce giant but his ambitions then turned to the potential for simplifying personal finance in China.

He envisioned a cashless society based on "trust and credit" where buyers' cash is held in escrow by Alipay for merchants to send their goods with a guarantee of return for any unhappy customers.

In interviews Ma likes to recount how the start of Alipay was met with derision, saying: "Everybody said 'Jack this is the most stupid model we've ever seen, nobody will use it.'"

From payments for food deliveries, instant loans to micro-investment and insurance, Ant has mushroomed into an integral part of everyday Chinese life.

It now claims one billion users, partly thanks to Ma's gift for navigating China's red tape and gatekeepers.

But he may have crossed the line last month at a Shanghai business forum where he appeared to criticise regulators for being too heavy-handed and stifling technological innovation -- prompting criticism in state media over the risks of Ant becoming too big.

- Colonising Chinese finance -

Ant's reach is astonishing.

It is the world-largest digital payments platform, claiming 731 million monthly users on the Alipay app using more than 80 million stores.

That equated to $17.6 trillion in payments as of June this year, 25 times more than US giant Paypal.

The company is leading the line on blockchain technology and says it has a capacity to match one billion transactions a day on the so-called AntChain.

Its financial products have revolutionised personal finance across a country where around 10 percent of the population remains unbanked.

The Alipay app launched in 2013 a "Yu'eBao" service, which allows ordinary people to play money markets from their e-wallet.

The "leftover treasure" concept gave entry to investments of as little as one yuan, briefly becoming the world's biggest fund with nearly $200 billion in circulation.

Meanwhile, Zhima Credit (or Sesame Credit) is its credit scoring system, and Bangnitou -- an artificial intelligence powered investment adviser -- hoovered up 200,000 customers within six months of its launch.

Its supercharged success may be behind its sudden regulatory woes.

- Stormy waters -

Armed with the data of hundreds of millions of people, boundary-pushing AI and its pockets planned to be stuffed with IPO cash, Ant had a vision for new innovations and rolling into new markets.

Domestically, Alipay is pushing facial recognition payments technology, and abroad, the vast, young tech-friendly populations of Southeast Asia and India are seen as fertile ground for its products.

But Tencent's WeChat, the second player in China's digital payments market, is gobbling up market share, and global trust in Chinese technology has taken a hit.

Most importantly, the field of fintech has come under state scrutiny at home, with new state regulations introduced to contain potential risks in China's growing online lending industry -- an area Ant has been rapidly expanding in.

- Shock IPO suspension -

Just as the IPO looked set to roll, regulators called a halt and told Ant it couldn't go ahead until it complied with new capital requirements.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange cited "changes in the fintech supervisory environment" late Tuesday, ending the sale, which was also called off in Hong Kong.

A day earlier Ma and Ant executives were summoned to a rare joint meeting with the country's central bank and three other top financial regulators, prompting speculation they had been given a dressing-down.

Recently state media have started issuing warnings about potential financial instability that could result from Ant Group's rapid growth, as well as criticising Ma's comments about over-regulation.

Already China's richest man, Jack Ma stood to make around $27.8 billion from his 8.8 percent stake in Ant if the share sale had gone to plan. Instead, a plunge in Alibaba's share price in Hong Kong and New York has taken a chunk out of his fortune.

For now investors must wait and see.

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China's Ant Group facing regulatory pressure ahead of record IPO
Shanghai (AFP) Nov 3, 2020
Fintech giant Ant Group is facing growing Chinese pressure over potential risks in its online lending business, with co-founder Jack Ma and other executives summoned to an unusual meeting with regulators just ahead of its record-breaking IPO this week. The firm's Alipay platform has helped revolutionise commerce and personal finance in China, with consumers using the smartphone app to pay for everything from meals to groceries and travel tickets. But Ant Group, which has more than 700 million mo ... read more