Ant Group – the $200bn technology titan you’ve never heard of
He is known for his lavish parties and eccentric tastes. In the past Jack Ma, the 55 year-old billionaire founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has attended the group’s annual company book profits festivals dressed up as a punk rocker or as Michael Jackson.
But the public float of his second company, Ant Group, could turn out to be his biggest extravaganza yet.
The forthcoming listing of the payments firm, which was announced on Monday, is expected to value it at $200bn (£158bn) – making it easily the most valuable listing of 2020 anywhere in the world.
Ant Group, formerly Ant Financial, provides mobile payments services across China and further afield with 1 billion users. Its products include mobile payments apps, backend payment services and digital wallets and is the market leader in China’s $16tn digital