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Source: Visual China Group via Getty Images
Source: Visual China Group via Getty Images
Ant Group Co. CEO Simon Hu resigned from the company, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, as the company is reviewing its business.
Hu resigned for personal reasons, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information is not public. Eric Jing, who is already president of Ant, will become CEO immediately, the person said. An Ant spokesman confirmed Hu’s resignation.
Hu, which joined Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in 2005 after working for China’s second-largest provider, China Construction Bank, it had built a reputation for implementing innovations such as the use of data analytics to provide unsecured financing services to small businesses and help Alibaba to win Amazon.com Inc. will build Asia’s largest cloud business.
He moved from Alibaba to Ant in November 2018 as chairman and assumed the position of CEO in December 2019.
Ant has been at the center of a regulatory crackdown as China aims to push technology companies toward finance. Its initial $ 35 billion public offering was abruptly suspended in November. The Central Bank of China later ordered the Hangzhou-based firm to become a financial holding company, an action that would subject it to capital restrictions, the need for new licenses and property control. The review could reduce the financial juggers’ valuation by about 60% from the $ 280 billion set last year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Francis Chan.
The resignation comes days after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged to the National People’s Congress to expand oversight of financial technology, eliminate monopolies and prevent “unregulated” capital expansion. The nation’s three financial watchdogs have made it their main goal this year to curb technology companies’ “reckless” push toward finance.
– With the assistance of Lulu Yilun Chen, Zheng Li and Jun Luo
(Updates with details everywhere)