An Ant Group logo is depicted at the company’s headquarters, an Alibaba affiliate, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, October 29, 2020.
Aly Song | Reuters
GUANGZHOU, China – The Ant Group will find a “liquidity solution” for employees to monetize stocks after its massive initial public offering (IPO) was pulled by regulators, according to a senior executive at the company.
Eric Jing, executive chairman of the Chinese financial technology company created by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, has also pledged to list the company.
An employee posted on the Ant Group’s internal message board asking about the company’s future and how to retain talent. In response, Jing said the tech giant is looking for a “short-term liquidity solution” for employees to take effect in April, without elaborating on what that might mean, said a person who saw the memo to CNBC.
Ant Group declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the content of the message.
Many Ant Group employees will have shares in the company as compensation. Typically, employees can withdraw or monetize these shares if the company is acquired, goes public or if management decides to repurchase shares.
Ant Group, owner of the popular Chinese mobile payments app Alipay, was planning a $ 34.5 billion IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong in November, which would have been the biggest ever. But regulators forced the company to suspend listing two days before negotiations began. Ant cited “significant issues such as changes in the financial technology regulatory environment” for the cancellation.