Latest news with #Ant Group
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Alibaba, Ant combine forces to take on Meituan in China's instant commerce market
Alibaba Group Holding and its fintech affiliate Ant Group, both co-founded by Jack Ma, have joined forces to create an army of delivery service workers to defeat Meituan in the instant commerce market. A total of 22 businesses operated by Alibaba and Ant, including domestic online marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, Ant's Alipay payment service and Alibaba Cloud, have pledged to improve the conditions of millions of delivery riders. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. Alibaba's move to pool resources from different units – which also include food delivery service fresh food store Freshippo and online travel booking site Fliggy – is being promoted as a public welfare campaign, but it marks the first time since 2020 that all of the group's key brands are on the same page. Alibaba has walked back from an earlier plan to spin off its sprawling business empire into independent entities. Late last year, the company merged its domestic and overseas e-commerce operations into one unit under newly appointed CEO Jiang Fan. This month, Alibaba rolled out a new membership programme spanning a range of services, from online marketplaces and food delivery to travel bookings. According to a statement from Taobao on Monday, Alibaba's delivery riders would be equipped with a new orange uniform in the style of a racing suit. The company pledged to provide better welfare coverage for its riders and set up special funds to support the education and healthcare needs of riders and their family members.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
China's Ant Group says Bright Smart deal on track following report of delay
BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) -China's Ant Group said relevant procedures regarding its acquisition of Bright Smart Securities & Commodities Group are moving forward as planned, in response to a report that said the deal may face higher regulatory scrutiny and could be delayed. Shares of Bright Smart dropped as much as 26.2% to HK$10.26 on Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the deal could be delayed as more mainland Chinese regulators contemplate reviewing the proposal. Hong Kong-based Bright Smart also said in a filing on Friday that it had noticed media reports suggesting a possible delay of the acquisition and that the relevant procedures with regard to the deal with the relevant authorities were progressing as planned. Ant agreed to buy a 50.55% controlling stake in Bright Smart Securities for HK$2.81 billion ($359.37 million), according to a filing by the brokerage in April. Ant was founded by billionaire Jack Ma and is 33% controlled by Alibaba. It operates China's ubiquitous mobile payments app Alipay. Chinese authorities pulled the plug on Ant's $37 billion IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2020 and cracked down on Ma's business empire soon after a speech in Shanghai in October that year accusing financial watchdogs of stifling innovation. That subsequently led to a forced restructuring of Ant and a nearly $1 billion fine by Chinese regulators. Ant is in the process of securing a financial holding company licence, which, once obtained, could facilitate the revival of its IPO goal. ($1 = 7.8192 Hong Kong dollars)
Reuters
4 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
China's Ant Group says Bright Smart deal on track following report of delay
BEIJING/HONG KONG, Aug 15 (Reuters) - China's Ant Group said relevant procedures regarding its acquisition of Bright Smart Securities & Commodities Group ( opens new tab are moving forward as planned, in response to a report that said the deal may face higher regulatory scrutiny and could be delayed. Shares of Bright Smart dropped as much as 26.2% to HK$10.26 on Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the deal could be delayed as more mainland Chinese regulators contemplate reviewing the proposal. Hong Kong-based Bright Smart also said in a filing on Friday that it had noticed media reports suggesting a possible delay of the acquisition and that the relevant procedures with regard to the deal with the relevant authorities were progressing as planned. Ant agreed to buy a 50.55% controlling stake in Bright Smart Securities for HK$2.81 billion ($359.37 million), according to a filing by the brokerage in April. Ant was founded by billionaire Jack Ma and is 33% controlled by Alibaba. It operates China's ubiquitous mobile payments app Alipay. Chinese authorities pulled the plug on Ant's $37 billion IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2020 and cracked down on Ma's business empire soon after a speech in Shanghai in October that year accusing financial watchdogs of stifling innovation. That subsequently led to a forced restructuring of Ant and a nearly $1 billion fine by Chinese regulators. Ant is in the process of securing a financial holding company licence, which, once obtained, could facilitate the revival of its IPO goal. ($1 = 7.8192 Hong Kong dollars)
Reuters
12-08-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Paytm's unit gets Indian central bank nod to operate as online payment aggregator
BENGALURU, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Indian fintech firm Paytm's ( opens new tab Payment Services unit has got 'in-principle' approval from the country's central bank to operate as an online payment aggregator, it said on Tuesday. In August 2024, the company had said it would submit an application with the Reserve Bank of India to seek a payment aggregator license. That move came seven months after the central bank ordered it to wind down its payments bank. Payment services accounted for more than half of the fintech firm's consolidated revenue in the quarter ended June 30. Last week, China's Ant Group( opens new tab exited the firm by selling its remaining 5.84% stake in block deals.
South China Morning Post
07-08-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Ant Digital promotes blockchain platform as Hong Kong implements stablecoin law
Ant Digital, an affiliate of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, is promoting its blockchain platform for asset tokenisation in Hong Kong, a week after the city's stablecoin law came into effect. Ant is positioning itself as a 'portal' that connects Web2 and Web3, 'providing more credible assets to Web3 and more compliant capital to Web2', Bian Zhuoqun, vice-president of Ant Group and president of blockchain business at Ant Digital, said at an event in Hong Kong on Thursday. The company aimed to offer blockchain technology for the tokenisation of real-world assets (RWA), Bian said. Tokenisation of RWA, which refers to the process of putting representations of traditional assets on a blockchain and allowing them to be more easily traded, is a major focus of Hong Kong's push to become a digital-asset hub Ant Digital in April announced Jovay, a 'completely self-developed' Layer 2 public blockchain that does not issue cryptocurrencies, Bian said. Jovay was specifically built for RWA transactions in overseas markets, Ant Digital said in a blog post then. 01:25 What's the hype about stablecoins? What's the hype about stablecoins? The company planned to officially launch Jovay in September, at which point it would be able to run 'real money', Bian added.
