Jack Ma appears to have solved his problems with the Chinese communist government

It's not uncommon for CEOs to take time out from the public eye to rejuvenate. However, in the case of the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, Asia's richest person, this "break" was prolonged and likely involuntary as the tech mogul clashed with the Communist Party. After nearly three months of complete absence under close government scrutiny, Ma has reappeared after reportedly reaching an agreement with China's regulators to reorganize his business empire. According to a report by Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter, the country's regulators have approved a restructuring plan with Ant Group, China's largest payment provider. Ma's company will combine all of its businesses, including its blockchain and food delivery technology offerings, into a financial holding company. To meet a requirement from regulators, Ant Group previously planned to turn one of its subsidiaries, Zhejiang Finance, into a financial holding company. Transforming the fintech giant into a financial holding company will subject it to similar capital requirements as banks. In other words, Ant will now be overseen by China's central bank. The deal with regulators to transform the Ant Group could pave the way for an IPO, but it could take some time and could also come at a lower price, given that tech companies are valued much higher than financial companies. Ma, the co-founder and former chairman of the technology company Alibaba and the Ant Group, fell visibly out of favor with China's communist party leadership in late October when he publicly criticized banking policy. At the time, Ma gave a bold speech in which he criticized national regulators and said, "Chinese finance has no system". He also compared lending practices to a "pawnshop mentality". His statement sparked a top-level backlash, beginning with regulators halting Ant's IPO just a day ahead of schedule and telling new draft microcredit rules designed to put Ant in its place. The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally stopped Ant's $ 35 billion IPO. China's market regulator has also launched an investigation into the business practices of Jack Ma's Alibaba and its main competitor TenCent for potentially anti-competitive behavior. Authorities also directed Ma's other online finance firm, Ant Group, to more or less find a way to make it less of a threat. Shares in the country's major tech companies have fallen sharply following the investigation's announcement, with Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com losing around $ 200 billion in value. Meanwhile, Ma has been replaced by another Alibaba manager and his photo has been removed from the website. Until last week, he has not appeared in public or been heard from in the past three months. He did not appear at several business meetings at which he was always a frequent speaker. There were also reports that he had been warned not to leave the country in early December.