Stay sharp with our email newsletter. For the first time since 2017, no Chinese public companies ranked among the 10 largest by market value. Tech giant Tencent’s exit from the list amid a wave of new regulations from Beijing represents a deep shift in how digital businesses are expected to operate in the world’s second-largest economy. This shift is also extending beyond both public markets and national borders, with emerging technology startups across the digital landscape feeling effects of Xi Jinping’s march toward stronger control over Chinese business, society, and data.  

This new regulatory zeal can be traced back to November of last year when regulators at the Shanghai Stock Exchange suspended the IPO of Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s FinTech giant Ant Financial that was expected to raise USD 37 billion and value the company at more than USD 300 billion following derogatory comments made by Mr. Ma regarding Chinese state banks. 

In the months that followed new regulations have been issued covering everything from real estate to online food delivery to quantitative hedge funds.