Ant Group’s Profit Rises With Jack Ma Back in the Public Eye

Ant Group Co.’s quarterly profit surged more than 50-fold after it benefited from an investment gain, a major boon for the Chinese fintech giant founded by Jack Ma.

The Hangzhou-based online finance firm contributed nearly 4.49 billion yuan ($618 million) of profit to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Considering Alibaba’s one-third stake in Ant, that translates to an estimated 13.6 billion yuan in profit for the three months ended Sept. 30, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Alibaba’s earnings report.

Ant’s earnings lag a quarter behind Alibaba’s. The fintech company attributed the sizeable profit to a net investment gain, ...