Ant

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma plans to cede control of Ant Group, the Wall Street Journal reported, after a regulatory crackdown that scuppered its $37 billion IPO in 2020 and forced a restructuring of the financial technology behemoth. While Ma only owns a 10 percent stake in Ant, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., he exercises control over the company through related entities, according to Ant's IPO prospectus filed with the exchanges in 2020. Hangzhou Yunbo, an investment vehicle for Ma, has control over two…

Colonies of ants can act a lot like neural networks, new research has revealed, with groups of the insects weighing up both external inputs and internal principles when making decisions about what to do as a collective.  In this particular study, the team behind it looked at when and how ant colonies evacuated their nests when the temperature gets too high. At some point a decision was calculated by the collective, concluding the nest should be abandoned.To put it another way, the ants took action as a whole system in…

When you're barely the size of an eyelash and on the hunt for fast-moving prey, having a bear trap strapped to your head might seem like a good idea.Of course, it's all fun and games until it actually goes off. Even the slightest wobble in that trap's arc could send your face on a one-way trip into your back pocket.  Fortunately, the trap-jaw ant has a solution to this problem, safely earning it a place among the quickest snaps in the animal kingdom.A study by a team of US researchers carried out mathematical modeling on…

Screenshot: Marvel StudiosGuests aboard Disney Cruise’s newest ship The Wish will be the first to experience Avengers: Quantum Encounter, a Marvel Studios dinner theater show. In it, actors from the films virtually reprise their roles for an in-universe dining experience where cruisers get a curated, themed meal—and some banter over a key battle against a particular purple Mad Titan. Specifically, the topic at hand is why Ant-Man didn’t attack Thanos from, well, his posterior end. (You know you were wondering!) Here’s…

Chinese tech giants including Tencent Holdings and Ant Group have signed a pact to stop the secondary trading of digital collectibles and "self-regulate" their activities in the market, Chinese state media reported on Thursday. The companies were among 30 firms and institutes that have agreed to the "Digital Collectible Industry Self-Discipline Development Initiative" in which they will help prevent secondary trading and speculation in digital collectibles, according to a report by the Shanghai Securities News. The…

Earlier this week, Twitter user @plvnetmimi shared a link to the music video for the nü-metal band Alien Ant Farm’s 2001 cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal.” The Riverside, Calif., foursome’s lone hit, a novelty that rose to No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the alternative chart, followed in the Vans-clad footsteps of Limp Bizkit’s 1997 take on George Michael’s “Faith” — dude-bro guitar riffage butching up ‘80s soul-pop.The tweet’s caption — “back when life was great” — and the video’s innocent,…

China's central bank has accepted Ant Group's application to set up a financial holding company, three people with knowledge of the matter said, a key step in finishing a year-long revamp of Jack Ma's fintech business and reviving its stock market debut. The People's Bank of China's (PBOC) expected approval of the plan is the latest sign that Ant, a tech giant with financial businesses stretching from payments to wealth management, is poised to emerge from a regulatory crackdown. The PBOC this month accepted Ant's…

Ant Group, founded by billionaire Jack Ma, scrapped its IPO in November 2020 after regulators flagged concerns with the company. Since then, the company has been ordered to rectify its business. Ant Group said that a revived IPO is not on the cards yet.Costfoto | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesAlibaba shares dropped 8% on Thursday after financial affiliate Ant Group said it currently has no plans to revive an IPO, and a key regulator said it had not conducted an evaluation on a potential listing.The planned IPO of Ant…

ANEXT Bank has made its debut in Singapore with a soft launch, unveiling its plans to focus on the small and midsize business (SMB) market. It inks a two-year partnership with online marketplace network, Proxtera, to facilitate cross-border trade amongst businesses in the market segment. ANEXT said Monday it would offer digital financial services to micro enterprises and SMBs in Singapore and the region, in particular, those that needed cross-border support for their global expansion. It offered a preview of its…