Ant Group announced on Saturday a series of corporate governance changes, resulting in its founder Jack Ma (pictured) no longer having control of the company. Prior to the change, he effectively held 53.46% of the shares of Ant Group through Hangzhou Junhan and Hangzhou Junao Investment Partnerships.
Ant Group said Ma will also terminate his acting-in-concert arrangement with shareholders Eric Xiandong Jing, Simon Hu, and Fang Jiang. Instead, the ten major shareholders will exercise their voting rights independently. The company argued that its shareholding structure will now be more transparent and diversified, which will "facilitate its steady development."
