Ant Group

Ant Group Co. Ltd.
Native name
蚂蚁科技集团股份有限公司
IndustryTechnology
Financial services
Payment processor
Predecessor
  • Alipay financial services (2014)[1]
  • Ant Financial Services Group (2014-2020)
Founded16 October 2014; 10 years ago (2014-10-16) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
FounderJack Ma
HeadquartersXihu District,
Hangzhou
,
China
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
ProductsElectronic payment processing
Banking
Mobile payment
Brands
Revenue120,618,000,000 renminbi (2019) Edit this on Wikidata
24,071,000,000 renminbi (2019) Edit this on Wikidata
18,072,000,000 renminbi (2019) Edit this on Wikidata
Total assets271,558,000,000 renminbi (2019) Edit this on Wikidata
Owner
  • Hangzhou Alibaba Network Technology (32.65%)
  • Hangzhou Junhan Investment (29.86%)
  • Hangzhou Jun'ao Investment (20.66%)
Number of employees
~16,660
SubsidiariesTianhong Asset Management
Websitewww.antgroup.com

Ant Group (Chinese: 蚂蚁集团; pinyin: Mǎyǐ jítuán), formerly known as Ant Financial, is an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group. The group owns the world's largest mobile (digital) payment platform Alipay, which serves over 1.3 billion users and 80 million merchants, with total payment volume (TPV) reaching CN¥118 trillion in June 2020.[4][5][6] It is the second largest financial services corporation in the world, behind Visa.[7] In March 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ant's flagship Tianhong Yu'e Bao money-market fund was the largest in the world, with over 588 million users, or more than a third of China's population, contributing cash to it.[8]

In October 2020, Ant Group was set to raise US$34.5 billion in the world's largest IPO at the time, valuing the company at US$313 billion.[9][10][11][12] On the eve of the IPO, China stopped the process from moving forward.[13] It was reported that the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping personally scuttled the Ant IPO.[14] On 12 April 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported that under the pressure from the Chinese government, Ant Group would be transformed into a financial holding company overseen by the People's Bank of China.[15]

  1. ^ "Alibaba affiliate Alipay rebranded Ant in new financial services push". Reuters. 16 October 2014. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  2. ^ "Ant Financial appoints Simon Hu as CEO, part of Alibaba's executive shuffle". Reuters. 19 December 2019. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Ant Group - Company Profile". www.antgroup.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Ant Group" (PDF). Hong Kong Exchange News. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Jack Ma's fintech giant tops 1.3 billion users globally". 15 July 2020. Archived from the original on 10 July 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Alipay Overtakes PayPal as the Largest Mobile Payments Platform in the World". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Ranking of Largest Fintech Companies in 2022 [Full List]". Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  8. ^ "More Than a Third of China Is Now Invested in One Giant Mutual Fund". wsj.com. 28 March 2019. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  9. ^ Kharpal, Arjun (26 October 2020). "Ant Group to raise $34.5 billion, valuing it at over $313 billion, in biggest IPO of all time". CNBC. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  10. ^ Xie, Stella Yifan; Jing, Yang; Saito, Yasufumi (27 October 2020). "Inside Ant, the Company Behind the World's Biggest IPO". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  11. ^ Zhong, Raymond (26 October 2020). "Ant Group Set to Raise $34 Billion in World's Biggest I.P.O." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  12. ^ Kharpal, Arjun (27 October 2020). "Ant Group closes Hong Kong book early due to strong demand for its record dual IPO". CNBC. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  13. ^ Chen, Lulu Yilun; Frost, Richard (3 November 2020). "China Halts Ant Group's IPO, Throwing Ma Empire Into Turmoil". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  14. ^ Wei, Lingling; Yang, Jing (12 November 2020). "China's President Xi Jinping Personally Scuttled Jack Ma's Ant IPO". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  15. ^ Yang, Jing (12 April 2021). "Jack Ma's Ant Group Bows to Beijing with Company Overhaul". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.