Simon Hu resigns as Ant Group CEO

Simon Hu has resigned as chief executive officer of Ant Group, months after the company was forced to pull its IPO amid a crackdown by Chinese regulators.

“The Ant Group Board of Directors has accepted Mr. Simon Hu’s resignation request, due to personal reasons,” said a spokesperson for the digital payments firm.

“We are thankful to Simon for the efforts he made at our company,” the spokesperson added.

Eric Jing has been named Ant Group’s new CEO, according to the company’s website. Jing had previously served the company in that position from 2016 to 2019.

Regulators forced Jack Ma’s Ant Group to call off its record-breaking IPO in late 2020, and launched an antitrust investigation into its affiliate Alibaba.

Ant Group is best known for its Alipay digital payments app, which boasts more than 700 million active users every month.

It also has massive interests in online investing, insurance and consumer lending, which have helped it grow into a business with assets worth about $635 billion under management.

— This is a developing story and will be updated.