China Fines Alibaba $2.8 Bln For Anti-monopoly Violations

(RTTNews) - Alibaba Group was fined 18.23 billion yuan or about $2.79 billion by Chinese regulators as a result of an anti-monopoly investigation.

The fine amounts to about 4% of the company's 2019 domestic revenue.

China's State Administration for Market Regulation said Alibaba abused its dominant market position for several years. The tech giant restricted competition by stopping some sellers using other platforms.

Billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba reportedly accepted the penalty imposed by the country's anti-monopoly regulator.

The tech giant reportedly said that it was not aware of any further anti-monopoly investigations by Chinese regulators, though it indicated that Alibaba and its competitors would remain under review in China over mergers and acquisitions.

In December 2020, China's central bank ordered Ant Group to rectify its operations and comply with regulatory requirements.

Ant Group, formerly known as Ant Financial and Alipay, is an affiliate company of Alibaba Group.

In November 2020, Ant's planned $37 billion initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which was supposed to be the world's largest IPO, was suspended, citing that the company might not meet listing qualifications or disclosure requirement.