The suspension of Ant Group’s initial public offering (IPO) in November came out of the blue. Everything seemed to be in place for the company to record the world’s biggest ever debut listing. But the Chinese regulators had other ideas.
Pulling the plug just days before launch has led to much speculation over what provoked this move. Was it a political power play? Was Jack Ma, the company’s founder, becoming too outspoken? Or was the fintech industry becoming too big to manage?
