Hot: Alibaba fined $ 2.8 billion for monopoly

Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government has issued a decision to fine Alibaba 18.2 billion yuan ($ 2.8 billion) for monopoly allegations. This latest move has raised concerns about the future of Alibaba’s giant empire.

The above fines are equivalent to 4% of Alibaba’s domestic sales in 2019.

Alibaba will also be required to implement a “comprehensive revision” that includes tightening internal controls, maintaining fair competition, and protecting businesses on consumer platforms and interests. use. The company was also required to propose self-regulation reports to the government for three consecutive years.

For its part, Alibaba said it was “sincerely” low in accepting this penalty and would comply with the regulations. “We will strengthen our compliance with the law, further strengthen the building of a compliance system that builds on innovation and growth. In addition, we are committed to better social responsibility. “.

Since the fall of 2020, the Chinese regime has taken steps to increase scrutiny on Alibaba. They have proposed antitrust guidelines and prevented the collection of personal information by internet companies.

This is arguably the darkest period for the empire of billionaire Jack Ma. Alibaba’s financial arm Ant, an IPO, worth $ 35 billion, was suspended in December when the authorities said regulations were needed to change with the company. Soon after, Ant and other rival firms were subjected to a series of new regulations aimed at reducing their influence on everything from digital payments to online lending and credit. use.

“The value of Ant Group could be further reduced if its payments were forced to split because of the possibility of monopoly allegations by the central bank of China investigating.”

It is worth mentioning that before all the bad things happened, Ant was predicted to be valued at up to $ 320 billion.