"The idea that Jack has this enormous amount of power, I think that's not quite right," Tsai said. "He is just like you and me, he's a normal individual."
Alibaba was also fined $2.8 billion in April for anti-competitive business practices.
The central-government investigation, which started early this year, focuses on "regulators who greenlighted the initial public offering, local officials who advocated it and big state firms that stood to gain from it", according to the report.
Ma's relationships with these "state stalwarts" are also being examined as part of the investigation, the report said.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Ma had offered in a November meeting with regulators to hand over parts of Ant to the Chinese government.
Ant denied that a divestment of Ma's stake was ever under consideration. "Divestment of Mr. Ma's stake in Ant Group has never been the subject of discussions with anyone," an Ant spokesman said in a statement.
Apply to set up a financial holding company to ensure its financial-related businesses are fully regulated.
'Jiebei' and 'Huabei', the company's two credit subsidiaries, will be run by its consumer finance company which will be operated in compliance with relevant laws and regulation.
The Alibaba business empire has come under intense scrutiny in China since its billionaire founder Jack Ma’s stinging public criticism of the country’s regulatory system in October.
Regulators in China have punished e-commerce giant Alibaba with a massive $2.78 billion (18.2 billion yuan) fine over practices deemed to be an abuse of the company's dominant (and monopolistic) market position.
Alibaba in particular has remained under scrutiny since last year, when co-founder Jack Ma criticised Chinese regulators as being "behind the times", after the company's financial arm Ant Group was investigated.
The penalty, equivalent to around 4% of Alibaba’s 2019 revenues, comes amid an unprecedented regulatory crackdown on home-grown technology conglomerates in the past few months that have weighed on company shares.
Last year, Chinese premier Xi Jinping blocked Ant Group's initial public offering, as it was speculated that the decision was based on Jack Ma's public criticism of Jinping's financial oversight campaign, and that it could add risk to the financial system.
A group of well-connected Chinese power players backed the company; including those linked with political families that pose a potential challenge to Jinping's authority.
Jack Ma decided to say goodbye to Alibaba in 2018 and was last seen at a conference in October last year criticizing Chinese government regulators, after which he disappeared raising global concerns.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that Ma was replaced as a judge in the final episode in November of a game show for entrepreneurs called Africa's Business Heroes.
Chinese regulators have zeroed in on Ma's businesses since his October speech including launching an antitrust probe into Alibaba.
Eyebrows were raised when the state-run People's Daily revealed that he is a member of the Communist Party -- something Ma has never fully commented on.
State media have repeatedly called for tighter oversight of these firms, warning of potential financial instability as a result of their unregulated rapid growth.