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Ant Group’s chief executive Simon Hu resigns, Eric Jing takes over position with dual role as CEO and chairman
- Simon Hu Xiaoming was promoted to chief executive officer of Ant Group in September 2019
- Hu joined Alipay China in 2006, working his way up the ranks and helping to establish AliFinance
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Simon Hu Xiaoming, one of the key figures in Ant Group’s explosive transformation from an online payment service into the world’s largest fintech group, has resigned as chief executive officer (CEO).
Hu, 51, will step down as CEO and executive director to devote his “full efforts towards philanthropic work,” according to a letter by Ant Group’s chairman Eric Jing Xiandong to the fintech company’s staff, seen by South China Morning Post. “We have decided to respect Simon’s personal request and support him fully in his new mission.”
Jing, 48, will assume the dual role of Ant Group’s chairman and chief executive effective immediately, according to the latest information on the Hangzhou-based fintech company’s website. Ant Group’s spokespeople confirmed Hu’s resignation and Jing’s new dual role.
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Ant Group’s board has accepted Hu’s resignation “due to personal reasons,” the company’s spokespeople said. “We are thankful to Simon for the efforts he made at our company.”
Hu would be the highest-ranking casualty from the fallout of Ant Group’s US$35 billion abandoned stock sale, called off last November a mere 48 hours before shares were due to begin trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
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Hours before the decision to halt the largest stock offering in global financial history, Hu and Jing accompanied Ant Group’s founder Jack Ma to a meeting with Beijing’s financial regulators, where they were informed that changes were afoot in the business environment that Ant Group was operating in, which would put the company’s dual listing in breach of disclosure rules.
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