China’s antitrust authorities are researching the prospect of fineing online retail giant Alibaba to get a record number in the nation’s history, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports, citing resources. According to the paper, it is going to transcend $975 million – only this kind of good was paid in 2015 from the American firm Qualcomm, which the PRC government accused of violating antitrust legislation, RBC reports.
According to the paper, Alibaba will likewise be asked to abandon the custom of”select one of 2“, based on that, according to authorities, the firm restricted certain providers who offered goods not just on Alibaba but on rival platforms.
Additionally, regulators may need Alibaba to divest its resources unrelated to its center online retail organization. Following the regulators eventually choose the steps, they need to be accepted by the Chinese direction.
Alibaba and SAMR are quite on this.
On December 24, Chinese authorities launched an antitrust investigation against Alibaba. Regulators are looking into the company’s “forced exclusivity” policy, in particular, Alibaba’s requirement for partners not to work with its competitors.
Later, the WSJ reported, citing sources, that the Chinese authorities decided to reduce the technological and financial business empire of the founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma. According to them, the authorities expect to “curb” the businessman, but at the same time maintain the innovative spirit that has fueled China’s technological and economic growth.
In early November, Ant Group (a division of Alibaba) was supposed to go public in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which could become the largest IPO in history: the company could raise up to $ 34.4 billion. However, two days before the IPO, Ant Group announced that it had received a message from regulators in China that it would be suspended “due to material issues.” The WSJ wrote that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally ordered to stop the IPO, as the Chinese authorities were “furious” after the October speech of the businessman. The newspaper also reported that the billionaire proposed to the Chinese authorities to nationalise part of Ant Group’s assets, but this did not help prevent the cancellation of the IPO.
