Jack Ma pushes AI drive in rare speech since Ant crackdown

The co-founder of Ant and affiliate Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. showed up on Sunday to talk about the next 20 years of the fintech company

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma rallied his troops during a speech at Ant Group Co.’s 20th anniversary, making a rare appearance after a government crackdown forced the fintech giant to scrap what would have been the world’s largest initial public offering four years ago.

The co-founder of Ant and affiliate Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. showed up on Sunday to talk about the next 20 years of the fintech company and the opportunities brought on by artificial intelligence, according to a speech transcript seen by Bloomberg. Ant didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.

“We were lucky to capture the opportunities of the internet 20 years ago,” Ma said in the speech. “In the future 20 years, AI will bring changes far beyond the imagination, AI will bring on an even greater era.”

He acknowledged the challenges and tests that Ant faced, adding that the company has matured and benefited from criticism. Also on Sunday, Ant said it will promote President Cyril Han to chief executive officer, effective in March 2025, to succeed Eric Jing who will remain as Chairman.

Chinese authorities abruptly halted Ant’s IPO in November 2020 and ordered a sweeping overhaul of its business model to comply with financial regulations. Over the past few years, Hangzhou-based Ant has reorganized its units and been counting on breakthroughs in tech and AI to revitalize profit growth dented by the regulatory crackdown.

Ant is expanding its business with AI-powered products in areas including dining, ride-hailing, entertainment services, health care and finance, which are playing an increasing part in Chinese people’s lives. The company’s profit grew almost 193% in the quarter ended June, reversing a yearlong decline.

Ant is also growing its global business through Ant International, which is strengthening its four key pillars of business operations this year — Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst and Embedded Finance. In March, it set up independent boards for its international, database and digital technologies units to pave the way for future spinoffs.

Ma has made similar comments to rally staff at Alibaba. He called on employees to “believe in the future” in an internal letter in September and has also visited the company’s campus.