Ant Group executives no longer part of Alibaba Partnership after China crackdown
1 min read . Updated: 26 Jul 2022, 10:36 AM IST
PremiumAlibaba Group has amended its partnership terms and now it allows only Alibaba employees to be part of the partnership.
Following the Chinese regulatory crackdown, Ant Group executives are no longer part of Alibaba Partnership, Alibaba's annual report released on 26 July showed.
According to the annual report, Alibaba Group has amended its partnership terms and now it allows only Alibaba employees to be part of the partnership. The first partnership terms was created in 2010 and comprised a group of people with the power to nominate a majority of Alibaba's board.
Alibaba in its corporate filing said that employees of Alibaba's affiliates were no longer partners from 31 May. The move was "part of our continuous efforts to enhance corporate governance", it added.
As per the details, seven Ant Group executives including Chief Executive Eric Jing have stepped down from Alibaba Partnership. Apart from this, its chief technology officer and chief people officer also stepped down. Among others, two of Alibaba's retired executives also left the partnership, leaving the total number of Alibaba Partners at 29 from 38 in 2021. Alibaba retains a third of Ant, which it spun off in 2011.
Both Alibaba and Ant took steps to set strict operational boundaries after a restructuring by Beijing derailed Ant's $37 billion initial public offering in 2020.
Recently, Ant reshuffled its board with departures including Alibaba veteran Jiang Fang. It aims to become a financial holding company.
Meanwhile, Alibaba said that it is mulling to apply for a primary listing in Hong Kong, taking advantage of a rule change allowing high-tech Chinese firms with dual class shares to seek dual primary listings in Hong Kong.
With Reuters inputs.
