‘Political links’ led to China blocking Jack Ma’s record IPO

China’s President Xi Jinping pushed for blocking what would have been a record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) for billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group last year because of Communist Party-linked “political families” who stood to gain billions of dollars through opaque investment vehicles, according to a new report. Investment companies linked to the grandson of former President Jiang Zemin and the son-in-law of former Politburo Standing Committee member Jia Qinglin stood to profit from the IPO, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, with their ownership in the Ant Group, the financial payments arm of Mr. Ma’s Alibaba empire, held through "layers of opaque investment vehicles that own stakes in the firm”.