China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced that Alibaba received a fine as the company abused its market dominance.
Following an investigation for monopolistic practices opened in December, Alibaba received a $2.8 billion fine, and according to SAMR’s statement: “infringes on the businesses of merchants on the platforms and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.” Moreover, the Chinese giant will have to file self-examination and compliance reports to the SAMR for three years.
Daniel Zhang, Alibaba CEO, mentioned that the fine would not have a material impact on the company. Also, he said that Alibaba would introduce new measures to lower the entry barriers and costs for merchants and business on the platform. Moreover, the company will continue to expand to smaller Chinese cities and rural areas.
Alibaba’s fine comes when China is paying close attention to its tech companies, as regulators are concerned about the tech giants that operate in the financial sector.
However, the fine didn’t seem to affect Alibaba stock, as it gained 8% during the Hong Kong trading hours.
Source: cnbc.com