China fines Alibaba & Tencent over monopoly practices
2 Min Read
Beijing cracks down on unfair competition.
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Alibaba, one of China's (and the world's) largest corporations.
China's market regulator announced on Sunday that China has imposed fines on technology giants Alibaba and Tencent, in addition to other firms for failing to comply with anti-monopoly regulations regarding the disclosure of transactions.
The regulator - the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), released a list of 28 deals that violated the rules. Five of the deals involved Alibaba units, including a 2021 equity purchase in its subsidiary, the Youku Tudou, a streaming platform. Tencent was involved in 12 transactions on the list.
The Chinese tech sector, since 2020, has been one of the main targets for the state's crackdown on monopolistic practices, opting for a fairer, more decentralized mechanism in the country.
Under China's anti-monopoly law, a potential fine holds a maximum potential of 500,000 yuan, which is $74,688.
In January, China announced its pledge to combat unfair competition and monopolistic activities in the pharmaceutical industries.
The move was in response to regulatory guidelines issued in November to combat monopolies in active medicinal ingredients (API), ingredients that China leads in manufacturing and exporting.
The Ministry said in a statement that it will "strengthen law enforcement against unfair competition, and resolutely investigate unfair competitive acts, such as commercial bribery".
Furthermore, the ministry vowed to strengthen anti-monopoly enforcement in the areas of drug shortages and APIs, draft and approve antitrust rules in the API market, and probe monopolistic pacts, according to the statement.
