Posted on 04/10/2021 7:18:40 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
BEIJING—Alibaba Group, the world’s biggest e-commerce company, was fined 18.3 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) by Chinese regulators on Saturday for anti-competitive tactics, as the ruling Communist Party tightens control over fast-growing tech industries.
Party leaders worry about the dominance of China’s biggest internet companies, which are expanding into finance, health services, and other sensitive areas. The party says anti-monopoly enforcement, especially in tech, is a priority this year.
Alibaba was fined for “abusing its dominant position” to limit competition by retailers that use its platforms and hindering “free circulation” of goods, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced. It said the fine was equal to 4 percent of its total 2019 sales of 455.712 billion yuan ($69.5 billion).
“Alibaba accepts the penalty with sincerity and will ensure its compliance with determination,” the company said in a statement. It promised to “operate in accordance with the law with utmost diligence.”
The move is a new setback for Alibaba and its billionaire founder, Jack Ma, following a November decision by regulators to suspend the stock market debut of Ant Group, a finance platform spun off from the e-commerce giant. It would have been the world’s biggest initial public stock offering last year.
Ma, one of China’s richest and most prominent entrepreneurs, disappeared temporarily from public view after criticizing regulators in a November speech. That was followed days later by the Ant Group suspension, though finance specialists said regulators already had been worried Ant lacked adequate financial risk controls.
Alibaba, launched in 1999, operates retail, business-to-business, and consumer-to-consumer platforms. It has expanded at a breakneck pace into financial services, film production, and other fields.
The government issued anti-monopoly guidelines in February aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices such as exclusive agreements with merchants and the use of subsidies to squeeze out competitors.
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
The CCP must be a little short of cash.
If nothing else, China knows how to assess a fine such that the company knows it screwed up
If a US company screws over Americans, our cucks in congress assess a fine of $0.001 to every dollar stolen. That’s like allowing bank robbers to keep 99% of the loot
A $100 Million fine to a Billion dollar revenue is pointless. China executes those responsible and then drops a fine. We could learn something from that
So if you want to live where the government KILLS its citizens and then decides whether a fine is in order or not, why don’t you move there?
The naïve is STRONG in this one...
Fined by Communists 1.0 for limiting competition and hindering “free circulation” of goods. The irony.
CCP ongoing “rehabilitation” of Jack Ma for getting too independent. To CCP its not personal, its business
Seems so their war machine is a money pit take a country grab their gold.
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