Ant’s miserable Christmas and unhappy new year

After seeing its IPO scratched, China’s Ant Group may have thought that things couldn’t get any worse. But they have, as Beijing takes a hammer to the humbled financial technology firm.

A year that began with such high hopes for Ant Group ended with all the festive cheer of a man standing in an empty room blowing glumly into a kazoo.

China often releases big news in the dead days between Christmas and New Year, while the West is sleeping off the turkey and general overindulgence.

So, it was no surprise over the festive period to see rumours emerge of Beijing’s plans to carve up the Hangzhou based financial technology firm in the wake of its decision in November to cancel Ant’s $34.4

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