Elsewhere, Ant Group has been summoned to meet with financial regulators to talk about the company’s compliance.
China’s antitrust watchdog has begun a probe into tech giant Alibaba Group over alleged anti-competitive practices. The State Administration of Market Regulation has kicked off investigations into the Alibaba Group, laying claim that the company has been involved in monopolistic conduct such as “forced exclusivity” by requiring e-commerce merchants to pick only one platform as their exclusive distribution channel, according to the South China Morning Post. In a statement, Alibaba said it would “actively cooperate with the regulators on the investigation”, adding that the “company business operations will remain normal”. Last month, State Administration for Market Regulation slapped Alibaba and Tencent-backed China Literature with fines for failing to properly report past acquisitions deals for clearance. Alibaba and China Literature were each fined 500,000 yuan ($76,464), the maximum under a 2008 anti-monopoly law, reported Reuters. The acquisition deals that Alibaba were fined for included its $692 million investment in Intime in 2014 and the e-commerce giant’s $2.
