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China’s antitrust watchdog has investigated technology giant Alibaba Group over alleged competition activity.
The state administration of market regulation has kicked off investigations into the Alibaba group, claiming that the company engaged in monopolistic behaviors such as ‘forced exclusivity’ by requiring e-commerce traders to choose only one platform as their exclusive distribution channel. after the South China Morning Post.
In a statement, Alibaba said it would “actively co-operate with regulators on the investigation”, adding that “business operations will remain normal”.
Last month, the state administration for market regulation Alibaba and the China literature backed by Tencent complained of fines for failing to properly report previous transactions.
Alibaba and China Literature were each fined 500,000 yuan ($ 76,464), the maximum reported under an antitrust law of 2008. Reuters.
The acquisition agreements for which Alibaba was fined include its $ 692 million investment in Intime in 2014 and the e-commerce giant’s $ 2.6 billion bid in 2017 to privatize Intime, the report said.
Meanwhile, China Literature was fined for not reporting the acquisition of New Classics Media in 2018.
Separately, Alipay owner Ant Group’s financial services arm of Alibaba Group is being summoned by the Chinese central bank to meet with financial regulators to ensure compliance with the company’s regulations, the South China Morning Post said.
“Today, Ant Group has received a notice from the regulators. We will seriously study and comply with all regulatory requirements and make every effort to fulfill all related work,” Ant Group said in a statement.
In November, Chinese regulators shut down Ant Group’s stock exchange after concluding that listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange may no longer meet regulatory and disclosure requirements due to ‘recent changes in the fintech environment’.
This forced Ant Group to suspend its listing in Hong Kong as well.
“Ant Group was notified today by the Shanghai Stock Exchange that our A-list listing plan on the Shanghai Stock Exchange will be suspended. Consequently, Ant decided that the simultaneous H-share listing plan on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will also be suspended,” the company said. said in a statement at the time.
The fight against Alibaba Group’s activities by Chinese regulators follows on from founder Jack Ma’s candid speech at the Bund summit in Shanghai in October, in which he criticized the country’s arrogant regulation and the government’s dominance over the banking system. has.
“Good innovation can exist with regulations, but not in the old-fashioned way. We can not run an airport like we run a train station, nor the future like we run the past,” said Ma according to a transcript.
He added: “We need to get rid of the ‘pawn shop’ mentality in the financial industry today. We need to rely on the development of credit systems … I have found that the pawn shop mentality is a serious problem in China and has greatly affected it. entrepreneurs. It becomes extremely serious when entrepreneurs have to pledge all their assets. They are under great pressure and what they do is distorted. “
Alibaba Group reported relatively strong financial results in the second quarter in November. For the period ended September 30, net income was $ 3.9 billion.