Jack Ma’s Clash With Beijing Costs Ant, Alibaba $850 Billion (2)

As Jack Ma’s clash with the Chinese government draws to a close after almost three years, it’s clear how costly the conflict has proven for his companies, Ant Group Co. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Chinese authorities said on Friday they would wrap up a probe into Ant with the financial technology company paying a fine of almost $1 billion. The investigation began after Ma critiqued Beijing’s regulation of the financial sector in 2020, forcing Ant to pull the plug on what would have been the largest initial public offering in history.

The costs go far beyond the latest ...