Ant Group curbs support for overseas partners in strategy rethink ahead of listing

-
By Fanny Potkin
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China's Ant Group Co Ltd <688688.SS> <6688.HK> has been cutting funding and staff support to many of the overseas e-wallet firms it has invested in as it pivots away from earlier ambitions of becoming a global payments leader, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The shift in strategy by the Alibaba-backed <BABA.N> <9988.HK> fintech giant came late in 2019, brought on by a change at the helm and a reworking of priorities as it planned for its IPO and grappled with regulatory challenges at home.
It has made large cuts to the hundreds of millions of dollars it spent each year to subsidise user growth at overseas e-wallet firms offering digital payment and other financial services, and is repatriating Ant staffers, according to more than a dozen executives who work or have worked with Ant in nine countries.
...


Read More on Datafloq

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Underwater Autonomous Vehicles Helping Navy Get More for the Money 

-
Image
By AI Trends Staff     As the  US Navy  strives to get to a 355-ship fleet by 2034, part of a 30-year plan the Navy outlined in 2019, it is finding it economical to use underwater autonomous vehicles. They meet many of the requirements of larger submarines at a fraction of the cost.     For example, the Navy awarded Boeing a $43-million contract to build four Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (XLUUVs) last year, described in a release from  USNI News .      Boeing based its winning Orca XLUUV design on its Echo Voyager unmanned diesel-electric submersible. The 51-foot-long submersible is launched from a pier and can operate autonomously while sailing up to 6,500 nautical miles without being connected to a manned mother ship, according to the Navy.   In military spending terms, the versatility of the Orca at the price is “fairly unheard of in military spending,” according to an account in  The National Interest . The nearest equivalent was cited as the Navy’s Littoral Com
Read more

Canada regulator seeks information from public on Rogers-Shaw deal

-
(Reuters) - A Canadian regulator on Tuesday asked for information from the public on telecom company Rogers Communications Inc's planned C$20 billion ($16 billion) purchase of Shaw Communications Inc to check for competition concerns. The deal announced in March to create Canada's second-largest cellular and cable operator has attracted regulatory scrutiny. The Competition Bureau said in August it obtained court orders to advance its review. The regulator on Tuesday asked market participants and Canadians to come forth with information that could assist the regulator's probe on whether the deal will reduce or prevent competition. The Competition Bureau said its review was ongoing and no conclusions have been made. ... Read More on Datafloq
Read more