Ant's botched IPO: Inside the chaotic unraveling of Ma's $35 bn stock debut

Experts indicate that Jack Ma's open criticism of Chinese government's approach to financial regulation may have invited the ire of the all powerful Chinese state

The mid-level bureaucrats left China’s richest man waiting as they prepared for a meeting that would send shockwaves across the financial world.

It was Monday morning in Beijing, and Jack Ma had been summoned to the China Securities Regulatory Commission just days before he was set to take Ant Group Co. public in the biggest stock-market debut of all time.

When the regulatory officials finally entered the room where Ma was waiting, they skipped over pleasantries and delivered an ominous message: Ant’s days of relaxed government oversight and minimal capital requirements were over. The meeting ended without a discussion of