From pulling off the biggest global IPO till 2014 with Alibaba, to facing the cancellation of Ant Group's IPO in 2020, Jack Ma has come a long way. After stepping down as Alibaba Chairman in 2019, Ma was also forced to give up control of Ant, after he briefly disappeared and left the country for a year.
Now the firm he founded is being demerged into six different entities, for diverse sectors including e-commerce, logistics, entertainment, cloud, and digital media.
Investors on board for new listings
The separate arms to be headed by the CEO and board of directors will explore initial public offerings to raise funds individually.
This plan has been a hit with investors, sending Alibaba's stocks up by 3.5 per cent after the announcement.
The Alibaba Group will remain the holding company led by CEO Daniel Zhang, who will also be the chief executive for its spinoff Cloud Intelligence Group.
Winds of change in China?
Plans for listing six new firms come shortly after China announced its commitment towards strengthening the private sector.
Jack Ma's return to China earlier this week, is also thought to be a step towards restoring confidence among entrepreneurs.
His appearance in Hangzhou had also triggered a surge for Alibaba's stocks.
When Alibaba had gone public in the US, it was the largest initial share sale in the world at $25 billion, till it was surpassed by Saudi Aramco in 2019.
