Communist Party Expands Crackdown On China's Tech Billionaires After Spoiling Ant Financial IPO Communist Party Expands Crackdown On China's Tech Billionaires After Spoiling Ant Financial IPO Tyler Durden Tue, 11|10|2020 - 19:45 Jack Ma might be China's richest man (for now, at least), but in the span of a week, Beijing's decision to postpone the planned IPO|spinoff of Alibaba's Ant Financial unit offering in Shanghai, preceded, according to reports , by onerous new regulatory measures (which, analysts say, could cut the company's value in half) has brought Ma to heel. What could Ma, whose membership in the Communist Party is a matter of public record, have possibly done to provoke such a painful rebuke? He had the audacity to criticize China's financial regulations during an appearance at a high-profile industry conference in October. Ma's comments didn't make waves at the time, but nothing escapes the CCP. Following a year where China has delivered perhaps its biggest repudiation yet to international hopes for economic and political liberalization (the Hong Kong natsec law and brutal COVID lockdowns are probably the two most vivid examples), it appears President Xi and the Politburo are launching a full-on campaign to rein in the power of China's tech|fintech billionaires (a group that also includes Tencent founder Pony Ma).