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Hope Hunter goes there and mends relations.
Analysis: Jack Ma's reappearance fails to soothe all investor concerns
By Megan Davies, John McCrank, Ross Kerber
My guess down 6.48 by 4:00 pm est. lol
https://www.reuters.com/article/china-alibaba-jack-ma-investors/analysis-jack-mas-reappearance-fails-to-soothe-all-investor-concerns-idUSL1N2JV2IQ
I must say....no ipo, Ma getting scolded, delisting talk and new anti monopoly regulations and let’s not forget 30% drop was not fun.
Back on track....weeeeeee!
Another cool thing, “Rust Never Sleeps”
https://bitcointicker.co/
Nothing to do with Bitcoin
What interest brought you here? This would be great if the drug proves success. I’ve had first hand experience and know the challenges that go along with helping those who have it.
I’m on it 7:00 am today. Thanks!
All looks positive, I always look at passion over life style. A lot of time life style takes away from passion, Human nature tends to make money distracting.
Hi Kev, what’s the deal with...
What is the salary of Christopher Missling?
As the President, Chief Executive Officer, Secretary, and Director of Anavex Life Sciences, the total compensation of Christopher Missling at Anavex Life Sciences is $3,380,040. There are no executives at Anavex Life Sciences getting paid more.
Where’s Kevin? Looks like a New Years Resolution.
IC room, has the patient stabilized....JK. Short term it actually hasn’t give me to much agida but a great stock to have fun with, so far.
Lol..so true! I was a little kid at that race. What’s real funny my great uncle was a teller there.
Communism (sulky) vs democracy (thoroughbred)...
The sulky has only two wheels and has a seat in which the driver sits to steer their horse. Another distinguishing factor between these two types of racing is that Thoroughbreds only use one four beat gait (the gallop) when racing, whereas harness races either allow trotting or pacing.
The stars are aligning time for the next run...
Thanks for the SE post...
Yea it is cool, I posted one similar....
https://bitcointicker.co/
Reminds me of a heart monitor with a fib.lol
Ma vs Xi Jinping: the future of private business in China
The crackdown on Alibaba and Ant Group amounts to an unprecedented squeeze on a ubiquitous ecommerce empire
Tom Mitchell in Singapore and Yuan Yang and Ryan McMorrow in Beijing 7 HOURS AGO
Four years ago, when Ant Group’s premier money market fund was racing to a peak of more than $260bn worth of assets under management, many of China’s state-owned banks and their regulators started to get agitated. In a series of calls and meetings with Jack Ma, Ant’s founder, bank executives and regulatory officials demanded that its Yu’E Bao fund be reined in.
“Yu’E Bao was pulling a lot of money from the banks,” says one person familiar with the discussions. “The banks were worried about the impact on liquidity and wanted Ant to take measures to minimise the impact. The conversations were pretty tense.”
In the end, Mr Ma had to back down and Yu’E Bao imposed caps on how much people could deposit. Between March and December of 2018, its funds under management fell by a third to $168bn and stood at $183bn last September.
The showdown would prove to be a prelude to the much bigger confrontation that now pits the Chinese Communist party and President Xi Jinping against not just Ant but also Alibaba, the ecommerce group founded by Mr Ma.
The stand-off, which has sparked rampant speculation about Mr Ma’s whereabouts, could become a defining moment for the future of private business in Mr Xi’s China.
On December 24, China’s market regulator announced it was launching an antitrust probe into Alibaba and sent investigators to its headquarters in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, Mr Ma’s hometown. The announcement came just two weeks after the party’s politburo said it would target monopoly businesses to prevent the “disorderly expansion of capital”.
Jack Ma holds the gavel at the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Mr Ma has not been seen in public since October last year © New York Times/Redux/eyevine
The move on Alibaba also came two months after financial regulators dramatically cancelled Ant’s planned $37bn initial public offering, which would have been the world’s largest.
Taken together, the measures amount to an unprecedented squeeze on a business empire whose ubiquitous services are central to the functioning of China’s pioneering online economy. Ant says Alipay, its payment app, is regularly used by 700m people — half of China’s total population — and 80m merchants, processing payments worth Rmb118tn ($18.2tn) in the group’s last financial year.
Alibaba’s shares have fallen by almost 30 per cent since the regulatory showdown began in late October, putting a big dent in the net worth of Mr Ma, who has not been seen in public since then. Over the same period his fortune has declined from $62bn to $49bn, according to Bloomberg data. The Hurun China Rich List estimated that Mr Ma had been the country’s richest man as recently as October 20 but would now rank fourth, his top slot taken by a bottled water tycoon, Zhong Shanshan.
The results of the showdown will say a lot about the sort of economy that China is developing. If Ant and Alibaba are crippled by regulators — or its founder is personally targeted by investigators — it will go down as a landmark moment in the party’s fickle relationship with China’s private sector even though Mr Ma is, ironically, a party member himself.
Since Deng Xiaoping launched the “reform and opening” era 40 years ago, the party has become ever more dependent on private sector companies for economic growth, job creation and tax revenues. But the party’s fixation with control, especially since Mr Xi came to power almost a decade ago, also triggers periodic crackdowns on the sector and prominent entrepreneurs.
Yet there is another potential outcome that would indicate a less fraught relationship between the party-state and business. The investigations into Ant and Alibaba could lead to the sort of settlements that are not dissimilar to those pursued in the US and EU against large finance and technology groups. That would leave Mr Ma’s two flagship companies humbled but still formidable and highly profitable national champions. Even then, a strong political message would have been sent.
“Chinese internet magnates can still enjoy thriving businesses and enormous fortunes if they are able to convince the top leadership of their loyalty,” says Chen Long at Plenum, a Beijing-based consultancy. “The top leadership wants to ensure that neither Ma nor anyone else ever crosses the red line of trying to exert personal influence over government policies again — at least not publicly. The government will support them on the condition that they serve the national interest first.”
Fintech revolution
Mr Ma has not appeared in public since October 24, when he gave a high-profile speech critical of the same state-owned banks he clashed with over Yu’E Bao’s rapid growth, as well as regulators who he said often sacrifice innovation on the altar of stability. According to people involved in the listing, the speech angered Mr Xi, who made the final decision to halt the Ant IPO.
A woman views a QR Code at an Ant Group stall in Shanghai. The move against Alibaba came two months after Chinese financial regulators cancelled Ant’s planned $37bn flotation © Feature China/Barcroft Media/Getty
Jack Ma with the winners of his 'Africa’s Business Heroes' TV competition in 2019. The usually high-profile Mr Ma missed the November final of last year's contest © africabusinessheroes.org
“To innovate without taking risks is to strangle innovation,” Mr Ma said. “There is no such thing as riskless innovation in the world. Very often, an attempt to minimise risk to zero is the biggest risk itself.”
He was speaking at the same forum where Wang Qishan, Mr Xi’s powerful vice-president and former anti-corruption tsar, had earlier emphasised the paramount importance of financial system stability. “Efforts should be made to prevent and lower financial risks?.?.?. security always ranks first,” Mr Wang said. “While new financial technologies have improved efficiency and brought convenience, financial risks have been heightened.”
In an unprecedented public rebuke of Ant two months later, on December 26 China’s central bank criticised Ant for being too cavalier about financial risk and taking advantage of regulatory loopholes. But as frustrated as regulators are with Ant, they cannot ignore the beneficial effects of the financial revolution it has led in China.
“Ant Group,” People’s Bank of China vice-governor Pan Gongsheng admitted in his otherwise critical comments, “has played an innovative role in developing financial technology and improving the efficiency and inclusiveness of financial services”. The central bank, he added in a nod to jittery entrepreneurs, was also “unshakeable” in its commitment to “protect property rights and promote entrepreneurship”.
Mr Ma has long enjoyed support from officials in a range of State Council ministries, as well as the lead financial regulators, who appreciate the contributions of Ant, Alibaba and their rivals, all of whom have transformed China’s economy and made its online services sector a global leader. When his status as a party member was first confirmed only two years ago, it was in the context of an award he was receiving from the party’s Central Committee for “making China a leading player in the international ecommerce industry, internet finance and cloud computing”.
Alibaba and Ant’s ecommerce and online payment services were even more critical at the height of China’s successful battle to contain coronavirus, providing essential services to the hundreds of millions of people caught in draconian lockdowns.
“There are different lines of thought within the regulators,” Mr Chen says. “Until Jack Ma’s speech the pro-growth people had the upper hand. But Xi thought the speech was too much and a second [risk-averse] group took the lead. If his speech hadn’t happened, everything would have been fine.”
Disappearing acts are unusual for Mr Ma, who also missed the November finale of his African reality TV show — Africa’s Business Heroes. He routinely gives flamboyant musical performances at Alibaba events and hobnobs with heads of state and government leaders.
People’s Bank of China vice-governor Pan Gongsheng tried to calm jittery entrepreneurs when he said the central bank was 'unshakeable' in its commitment to 'protect property rights and promote entrepreneurship' © VCG/Getty
China's president Xi Jinping with other world leaders at the G20 summit in Hangzhou in 2016. Mr Xi was said to be irked that some guests sought meetings with Jack Ma during the event © Sergei Guneyev/TASS/Getty
As China’s most successful private entrepreneur, Mr Ma enjoys unique status in China — and overseas. His fluent English has made him a huge celebrity on the international conference circuit, with a star quality unmatched by any of his private or state-sector peers.
When Mr Xi hosted the G20 leaders summit in Hangzhou in 2016, some of his guests also visited Mr Ma — something that irked the Chinese president, according to one diplomat involved and other people familiar with the matter. Mr Ma’s VIP callers included Indonesian president Joko Widodo, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and the then Italian premier, Matteo Renzi. Foreign leaders were offered limited time slots and the Chinese foreign ministry was mostly cut out of the process.
Over the past week rumours about Mr Ma’s whereabouts have abounded on China’s carefully monitored social media channels, while domestic media outlets have received strict instructions from censors about the stories they can and cannot run on Ant and Alibaba’s regulatory troubles.
Many of Mr Ma’s friends and colleagues strongly dispute suggestions that he is personally in any sort of legal jeopardy, let alone on the run. “He is in China and not travelling because of Covid, not anything else. He’s lying low,” says one friend of Mr Ma.
Another friend who communicates with Mr Ma regularly adds: “Everyone is asking me if he’s in danger, but he’s doing fine. He responds [to messages and calls] quickly and seems like he’s in good spirits. Discussions with regulators are still very much in process so he just has to stay quiet until they are resolved.”
Leadership missteps
Friends add that while Mr Ma may now regret the consequences of his October 24 speech, he meant what he said and still believes passionately in what he sees as Ant’s mission to transform the provision of financial services in the world’s second-largest economy.
Yu’E Bao, which translates as “account balance treasure”, was started in 2013 and allowed anyone in China, from restaurant staff to the urban yuppies they serve, to deposit as little as Rmb1 ($0.15) in a money-market fund and earn more interest than they could in a Chinese savings deposit account. Just four years later it became the world’s largest money market fund, surpassing JPMorgan’s US government money market fund.
The fund’s success was a dramatic demonstration of Ant’s potential. But it was also a threat to one of China’s most powerful vested interest groups — state banks and the officials who regulate them. The central bank was also concerned. In its annual financial stability report published in late 2019, the PBoC said it would “strengthen regulation of systematically important money market funds”, without mentioning Yu’E Bao by name.
A screen at a shopping event in Hangzhou shows Alibaba's number of delivery orders last year. The company's shares have fallen by almost 30% since the regulatory showdown against it began in late October © Wang Gang/China News Service/Getty
“When a taxi driver can deposit one renminbi in a money-market fund and get interest, that’s a big breakthrough,” says a former Alibaba executive. “Jack feels what Ant is doing is good for society.”
Mr Ma’s companies have rebounded strongly from regulatory disputes before, although Ant and Alibaba never faced scrutiny as intense as they now do. Ant’s run-in with banks and regulators over Yu’E Bao, for example, did little to hinder its overall business or influence.
Ant’s credit business grew so large that it now facilitates about one-tenth of all of China’s non-mortgage consumer loans.
The group also aligned its interests with those of powerful investors. Ant’s first fundraising in 2015 brought in a slew of well-connected shareholders, all of whom were set to be rewarded handsomely in the IPO. The Chinese government’s social security fund and a group of state-owned insurers held stakes in Ant valued at, respectively, Rmb48bn and Rmb45bn at the IPO price.
Shares belonging to an investment vehicle put together by Boyu Capital, whose executives have included the grandson of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, were valued at Rmb15bn. Even China Central Television, the country’s state broadcaster, held Ant shares worth Rmb3bn.
“Financial regulators have been very concerned about Ant’s growing power and ability to push back against any attempts to bring it under control,” says one Chinese government adviser. “Previous attempts to bring Ant under more control were not really working because it was so big and so powerful. There is now clearly a very dramatic shift.”
Jack Ma in 2018 at a ceremony in Beijing to mark the 40th anniversary of China's opening up. Mr Ma fell foul of the authorities after giving a speech in which he was critical of state-owned banks and regulators in October last year © Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Bill Deng, a former Ant executive and co-founder of XTransfer, a cross-border payments platform, says Mr Ma may have become too confident.
“For a long time, regulators let Ant expand and I think [management] became a bit too complacent,” he says. “If there are hundreds of people praising you, you can get overly optimistic. Financial deleveraging policies have been a trend for several years now and the government is extremely careful when it comes to finance.”
Healthy growth
The cancellation of Ant’s IPO triggered a cascade of official and state media criticism of the fintech group. Regulators have also made clear they want the group to shift many of its businesses — including payments, lending, insurance and wealth management — into a new, more tightly regulated holding vehicle. This will increase Ant’s capital requirements and lower its valuation.
Authorities see the holding company model as a way to rein in large financial conglomerates while increasing their transparency. They also want Ant to share its vast trove of consumer data with the central bank — something it has refused to do before.
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China plots ‘rectification’ drive to bring Jack Ma’s Ant Group to heel
Having to wait for a smaller return than they almost locked in a few months ago will be disappointing for Ant’s investors, but there are worse alternatives. “The Chinese government does not want to kill Ant, but to make sure it grows in a healthy way,” says Mr Deng. “Ant can surpass its current obstacles. If they have patience, they will be able to rise again.”
As for the antitrust investigation into Alibaba, a manageable outcome for the group would include an end to exclusivity arrangements that restrict merchants from selling on rival platforms. Alibaba could also potentially face a large fine — the maximum allowed would be 10 per cent of its previous year’s revenues — if it is deemed to have violated China’s anti-monopoly law.
“Debates about exclusivity have been going on for years, it’s a competitive market,” says the former Alibaba executive. “I don’t think Alibaba is going to get broken up. It’s just that the methods by which they fight for the market are going to be more regulated.”
Additional reporting by Sherry Fei Ju in Beijing and Jamil Anderlini in Hong Kong
Funny how his tune has changed...
, Bitcoin (BTC) has posted a standout year. The asset recently broke its all-time price high set in 2017, continuing upward past the $23,000 mark. A number of mainstream financial players have picked up big stacks of bitcoin this year as well, including business intelligence outfit MicroStrategy MSTR -6.8%, who allocated $425 million toward the asset. Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks’ billionaire owner, however, has not changed his opinion on bitcoin since he referred to the asset as a collectible in 2019, giving it “no chance” of becoming a reliable currency.
Learn About Hedges: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban termed cryptocurrency trade akin to the dot-com bubble in a tweet and said Bitcoin, Ethereum, and few others will emerge as survivors and thrive like Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY). Cuban's advice â?? 'Learn how to hedge.'
US pressure is one concern while China’s regulators are the other, these 2 crossroads are the holdup for the next run.
“Nationalzation” ??
He also added that the government wants to make a lesson out of Alibaba. "These nationalizations are definitely happening, and [the antitrust investigation] will likely speed up that process ... It's also, I think, about making an example of [Ant and Alibaba],
https://www.zdnet.com/article/chinas-top-court-demands-greater-scrutiny-to-prevent-monopolies/
https://www.ibtimes.sg/china-ccp-nationalize-jack-mas-alibaba-ant-group-54444
Intercontinental Exchange’s Cryptocurrency Venture to Go Public Through a SPAC
https://www.wsj.com/articles/intercontinental-exchanges-cryptocurrency-venture-to-go-public-through-a-spac-11610370003
Your take on this....
Top Us Banks To Remove Hong Kong listed Products With Exposure To Sanctioned Chinese Companies
7:17am ET 1/11/2021 Benzinga
Mentioned in article
BABACHACHLCHUGSJPMMS
Top U.S. banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) will delist structured products listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to a Financial Times publication on Sunday.
What Happened: Removal of these 500 structured products is the outcome of outgoing President Donald Trump's executive order prohibiting investments in companies with links to the Chinese military. The executive order also covers Chinese payment and fintech platforms like Alibaba Group Holdings Inc's (NYSE: BABA) Alipay, and Tencent Holdings Ltd's (OTC: TCHEY) WeChat Pay, and the QQ Wallet.
The delisted products are associated mainly with Chinese telecom companies like China Mobile Ltd (NYSE: CHL), China Telecom Corporation Ltd (NYSE: CHA), China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited (NYSE: CHU), along with benchmark indexes like the Hang Seng Index, reports Reuters based on the filings in the Hong Kong exchange.
Why Does It Matter: The MSCI Global Standard Indexes updated its list of securities to be removed to include the three Chinese companies effective from Jan. 8, 2021, as per November's Executive Order. However, the announcement also said that an MSCI J-Series Index would be available with these deleted securities.
According to Reuters, FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones Indices will also remove these structured products eroding a cumulative $5.6 billion from the Hong Exchange.
FT cited the exchange's statement on Sunday, which said that 'HKEX is working closely with the relevant issuers to ensure orderly delisting, and facilitate buyback arrangements being arranged by the issuers.' It continued to state that the U.S. banks' move may not 'have a material adverse impact on Hong Kong's structured products market.'
Related News: MSCI Shows The Door To 7 Chinese Companies In Line With Trump's Executive Order
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment
Bit to much....lol
https://bitcointicker.co/stamp/btc/usd/3days/
Thanks...very interesting how this is growing.
Opinions welcomed
Long-Desired Bitcoin ETF Could Actually Hurt Price in Short Term: JPMorgan
Jan 9, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. UTC
Updated Jan 9, 2021 at 5:42 p.m. UTC
While a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) would be a long-term positive, in the short term it could hurt the price of the leading cryptocurrency as it would draw institutional money from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), currently the only way for some on Wall Street to gain exposure to bitcoin, JPMorgan analysts wrote in a report.
Optimism over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approving a bitcoin ETF this year has grown due to the likelihood of a new commissioner being appointed this year, the report notes.
But that change would give competition to GBTC, which benefits from being the only game in town. (Grayscale is owned by Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk.)
Due to regulatory and other restrictions, some financial institutions and funds can't directly own bitcoin or even buy shares directly from Grayscale. To get in on the bitcoin action, they have little choice but to buy GBTC shares on the secondary market at a premium. With an ETF, that premium would shrink, reducing the attractiveness of GBTC shares.
A shrinking GBTC premium would also diminish the allure of a popular trade, the analysts wrote. Right now, some institutional investors buy GBTC at net asset value with the intent of selling after the mandatory six-month lockup period expires to capitalize on that premium. Should the premium drop due to the coming introduction of an ETF, it would diminish the popularity of buying GBTC at NAV for that purpose.
The JPMorgan analysts estimate the GBTC premium monetization trade could account for around 15% of outstanding GBTC stock.
The prospect of a bitcoin ETF and the resulting diminishing GBTC premium could also lead some institutional investors who bought in in the second half of last year to sell when their six-month lock-up expires, further putting downward pressure on GBTC premiums, the analysts wrote.
A page from the JPMorgan report
If you go down that road how confident are you with our currency, 25 trillion and growing.
“People kill for money. What makes you think they will not lie to you for yours?”
We can only hope the world grows to work’s together if not....
I’ve been with Grayscale Bitcoin Trust for a couple years and that’s been popping. Will see if it sticks this time.
Government was ok with Ma motivating the work force obviously they don’t want him to motivate them....
Fwb..are you taking a break?
No doubt risky.
China wants to progress and compete with the world what Ma started. Ma built this with a philosophy different from his rulers. The rulers are walking a fine line as Ma did. He definitely crossed it, now it’s there turn on how far they want to push back progress.
Hope your praying to be funny...
My take too...
“I think he’s been told to lay low,” Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based technology consultants BDA China, told Reuters. “This is a pretty unique situation, more linked to the sheer scale of Ant and the sensitivities over financial regulation,” he said.
What’s your take on Ma’s seclusion. I think government recommending no publicity till further notice.
Where’s Ma....u2 song comes to mind.
I want to run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside
I wanna reach out and touch the flame
Where the streets have no name, ha, ha, ha…
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/jack-ma-missing-232138645.html
Not good for alibaba...or is it?
https://www.dawn.com/news/1598068
As for Cold War...
As Bloomberg rightly pointed out, China has won WW3 without a shot fired.
China’s government is a stern parent....
Down $16.00 on HANG SENG INDEX
Down $10.00 on HANG SENG INDEX