Alibaba-Backed Ant Group's Valuation Estimated To Drop To $108B

Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. BABA-backed Ant Group’s valuation is estimated to be around $108 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

What Happened: This would be less than half of the $250 billion estimated valuation for Ant when it sought to go public late last year.

China’s draft proposals on financial technology is the primary contributing factor in this valuation plunge, as per Bloomberg analysts.

Ant’s popular payments service Alipay in particular could see its valuation halved under the regulations, as per analyst Francis Chan.

“Ant Group’s valuation may plunge further if its payment unit is forced to break up due to potential anti-trust probes by China’s central bank,” Chan said.

Why It Matters: Ant has faced trouble with the Chinese authorities ever since co-founder Jack Ma, the country’s most-famed billionaire, made comments critical of Chinese regulations at an event in Shanghai in October.

Ma was laying low in light of the increased scrutiny but reappeared in public for the first time in months, earlier this week.

Price Action: Alibaba shares closed 2% lower at $260 in New York on Thursday.

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