China’s State Market Regulation Authority (SAMR) has launched an investigation against Alibaba … The South China Morning Post reported this.
A Chinese tech giant owned by the country’s main wealthy Jack Ma was suspected of violation of antitrust laws. First of all, we are talking about the company’s practice of requiring partners not to work with competitors. This policy, the regulator believes, leads to the creation of forced exclusivity.
At the same time, the People’s Bank of China announced that the country’s financial regulators want to meet with representatives of the Ant Group. It is a subsidiary of Alibaba, whose entry into the stock market was disrupted by the state at the last moment.
Experts interviewed by the publication indicate that the fine may be symbolic, but the requirement to change Alibaba’s policy could lead to an outflow of partners and buyers. However, they note that it is unlikely that new players will enter the PRC e-commerce market in the near future.
Earlier, Western media reported that the failure of Ant Group, the owner of the Ailpay payment system, to an IPO, which could become the largest in history, was disrupted at the request of the head of the PRC Xi Jinping . Beijing did not suit Jack Ma’s criticism of the actions of state banks, who compared them to pawnshops .
The billionaire suggested that the authorities take away any part of the Ant Group, but this concession did not help. The attack on Alibaba was part of Beijing’s overall efforts to keep tech companies from independence. They are currently tightening up antitrust rules to better control them.
Earlier it became known that Jack Ma was asked not to leave the country in the near future. In addition, the founder of Alibaba has not appeared in public for a month, although he was previously open to communication.