Ant Group is a digital financial services company that owns and operates Alipay, one of two dominant mobile payment platforms in China (the other is WeChat Pay). The company began life as part of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post. It was spun off in 2011. Ant Group originates loans to consumers and companies, and is the largest provider of microfinance services in China. It also provides investment and insurance products on its platform, as well as technical solutions to payment companies. In late 2020, the company aborted initial public offerings in Shanghai and Hong Kong under heavy regulatory scrutiny. This has since been regarded as the start of the Chinese government’s crackdown on Big Tech that lasted more than 2.5 years.