Wings clipped: Self-exiled Jack Ma stripped of voting power in his Ant Group hrs after appearance in Thailand

South China Morning Post had reported citing people aware of Ma's itinerary that he would continue to study farming and fishery.

Ma disappeared from public view in October 2020 after giving a speech criticizing China's financial-regulation system.

Ma has maintained a very low profile since his clash with authorities. Once China's richest man, Ma's net worth has fallen by more than $25 billion since he disappeared from public view, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The businessman appeared to be chilling out in Bangkok with social media pictures showing him with Jay Fai, owner of a Michelin-starred food stall in Thailand's capital and attending Muay Thai boxing training in the city.

Jay Fai restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand posted a picture of Ma on Instagram Friday, where Jack Ma apparently visited.

"Incredibly humble, we are honored to welcome you and your family to Jay Fai's," the caption on the post reads.

The post was published hours before The Wall Street Journal first reported that Ma was preparing to give up control of the company he founded.

His trip to Japan in late 2022 triggered speculation that Ma might settle down in the country. Ma spent three months in Japan, where he looked into the operations and technology of fish farms, South China Morning Post reported.

He also visited several research institutes in Netherlands to study in October 2021 to learn food-related technology such as agricultural infrastructure, plant breeding, and the training of expertise in the field, according to people familiar with his plans, it added.

Ma gives up control

Ma, who had already resigned from his corporate roles, hit the headlines last Saturday following Ant Group's announcement that the 58-year-old billionaire has agreed to relinquish his control at the Hangzhou-based fintech group in a complicated voting rights change at two holding vehicles, South China Post reported.

According to the publication, Ma gave up control of Shanghai-listed financial software provider Hundsun Technologies, after parent Ant Group restructured its shareholding pattern and diluted Ma’s voting power.

This move was necessary to rejuvenate the much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of China’s largest fintech company, which owns the largest payment platform Alipay.

With this Ma, who indirectly held 20.72 percent of the voting rights in Hundsun, lost control over the mainland Chinese company, it said in its stock exchange filing released on Sunday.

A day before Ant had said that Ma would end an acting-in-concert pact with company chairman Eric Jing, former CEO Simon Hu and Alibaba Group Holding veteran Jiang Fang, giving up his 53.46 percent of voting power, stated the report.

Why the disappearing act

During a speech in 2020, Ma said Chinese banks were operating under a "pawnshop" mentality and accused existing banking regulations of being obstacles to financial innovations.

Angered by Ma's controversial comments, Chinese banking regulators halted the planned initial public offering (IPO) of Ant Group, a financial service affiliated with Alibaba, on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Top executives from Ant Group were summoned to meet with Chinese banking regulators, who ordered the financial service to restructure to meet relevant banking regulations in China.

Ant Group's IPO was expected to raise a record $37 billion.

The decision to halt Ant Group's IPO came from Chinese President Xi Jinping personally, the Wall Street Journal reported last November. Xi's alleged rebuke of Ma was supposed to send a message to successful Chinese entrepreneurs like Ma, warning them not to step out of line despite their personal successes in China.

Ma was advised by the Chinese government to stay in the country, Bloomberg had reported in December 2020.

After that Ant Group established a special work-group focusing on its restructuring and reform, top officials from China's Central Bank said during a press conference last week. Chinese banking regulators did not say when or if Ant Group's IPO would be put back on schedule.