We wonder if this logo is hiding anything...

According to Caixin, the Alibaba Group, formerly the sole owner of Alipay, has completed the transfer of all shares to Zhejiang Alibaba Limited. They did this in order to dodge new regulations requiring all payments companies to obtain new operating licenses. Unfortunately, they will have one less reason to vacation in the Cayman islands now.

According to Caing.com, Yahoo and Softbank used to hold more than 70% Alibaba Groups shares, which in turn was the sole owner of Alipay. After two transfers (in June 2009 and August 2010), totaling RMB 330 million, Alipay is now owned by Zhejiang Alibaba Limited, created by Jack Ma and Xie Shihuang.

Despite the fact that they are now fully compliant, there are concerns about whether or not it was legal to transfer significant assets at a cheap price without the approval of Group Board of Directors and Shareholders Meetings. This, coupled with a complete lack of further information, has the market abuzz with speculation on how this will affect Alipay’s business model and structure.