12.28.20 - China has recently announced that it is launching an antitrust investigation into Alibaba as many countries around the world step up scrutiny of growing internet firms and tech giants.
The State Administration for Market Regulation - the country’s top market regulator - announced Thursday that they would investigate alleged monopolistic behavior by Alibaba, Jack Ma's e-commerce and cloud computing giant. The regulatory agency gave little details but stated they would probe the company's practice of preventing vendors from selling their products on rival platforms.
The heightened scrutiny comes just weeks after Chinese officials and regulators forced Jack Ma to cancel Ant Group's IPO. It would have been the world's biggest stock market listing of all time.
The People's Bank of China also announced recently that the country's financial regulators will summon Ant Group, Alibaba's financial affiliate, to meet with them in the coming days. The central bank stated that the meeting would "guide Ant Group" to implement financial supervision and regulate its services. Shares in Alibaba dropped on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The stock has now dropped about 26% — wiping more than $240 billion overall from Alibaba's market value — since its previous peak.
Source: New York Times
