Discussion

• @pelstrom Peter Elstrom on x

  - To govern well, you can't pick and choose when and how hard to regulate; the secret sauce is consistency. - Beijing is looking as childish and moody as Trump on the day of the U.S. election.

• @michaelxpettis Michael Pettis on x

  4/4 Ant and its bankers were doing everything possible to ensure the company was seen as a tech company, with much higher valuations than mere banks. Now it seems that Ant may indeed be a bank.

• @pelstrom Peter Elstrom on x

  Check out @shuli_ren's take on the Ant IPO: - It's episodes like this that remind us how capricious and thin-skinned Beijing's policy makers can be. - Somehow, Beijing has proved Ma's point: China's bureaucrats don't know what they're doing. https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @curtisschin @curtisschin on x

  FT: “The party is pushing back”: why Beijing reined in Jack Ma & #Ant. https://www.ft.com/... via @financialtimes “...the motivations of China's leaders in scuppering the #IPO. derive mostly from calculations of political power & status, Chinese analysts & state bankers say.”

• @luerverte Lueurverte on x

  There's no way they know this with any certainty. You don't churn out regs just like that There's precedent here. Ma went on people's daily back in 13/14 before yue bao's launch to dunk on the SOEs. Got kneecapped a short while later https://twitter.com/...

• @financialtimes @financialtimes on x

  FT Big Read: Jack Ma may be one of China's richest men. But his public criticism of Beijing was deemed unacceptable, analysts say — and Ant Group's planned record IPO is now paying the price. https://www.ft.com/...

• @michaelxpettis Michael Pettis on x

  2/4 concerns that were already being widely discussed. If true, perhaps the IPO should've been withdrawn much earlier by Ant and its bankers, pending clarification of the new regulations. It may be that regulators were not the only ones to have handled this whole thing badly.

• @jkynge James Kynge on x

  The regulatory tussle that scuppered Ant's IPO was a long run thing but it remained hidden until his ill-fated speech brought it out into the open and Ant's dreams crashing down. https://www.ft.com/...

• @michaelxpettis Michael Pettis on x

  1/4 Many analysts are arguing that the surprise suspension of the Ant IPO was mainly, or at least partly, the consequence of Jack Ma's angry speech two weeks earlier, but my understanding is that his speech was itself a response to regulatory... https://www.ft.com/...

• @jchengwsj Jonathan Cheng on x

  FT: In China these days, “if a businessman makes money and keeps his head down and lays low, then it is fine...Otherwise, it is no good. Jack Ma stuck out his head a little too far. Hence, the consequences.” https://www.ft.com/...

• @michaelxpettis Michael Pettis on x

  3/4 By the way this article explains that had the IPO occurred, Ant would have become overnight the most valuable bank in the world, which is ironic because the IPO was very pointedly organized not as a bank IPO but rather as a tech IPO.

• @menakadoshi Menaka Doshi on x

  And to think Ma is a Communist party member. To all those who sing praises of muscular government. 👇 https://www.bloombergquint.com/ ...

• @sub8u Subrahmanyam Kvj on x

  “Ant will have to make changes that include capital increases at its lucrative micro-lending units, people familiar with the matter said. The fintech giant must also reapply for licenses for the units to operate nationwide...” https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @ryan_chua @ryan_chua on x

  “Could it be that Ant is too profitable and is now being targeted? Ant is raising at least $34.5 billion in an IPO that attracted more than $3 trillion of retail orders. Meanwhile, regional banks are still in the doghouse...” https://www.bloomberg.com/...