The Chinese government fined Alibaba 18 billion yuan for violating anti-monopoly rules.
The fines will burden the company’s finances. The value of the fine is equivalent to 4 percent of the total revenue of the Chinese e-commerce giant in 2019.
Previously, the Chinese government had never provided a fine of this size to a national company. Fines ever given to Qualcomm chip manufacturers from the United States worth 6 billion yuan in 2015.
“This is indeed a case of anti-monopoly highest profile in China,” said the Head of Research BOCOM International in Hong Kong Hong Hao, as quoted by Reuters on Saturday (10 / 4).
The fines were imposed based on the results of the investigation by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SMAR) of China.
SMAR found that Alibaba was thought to have urged clients not to do business with their competitors in the market since 2015. This finding violates anti-monopoly rules and the free circulation of goods in China.
Based on this decision, Alibaba stated in its official statement that it had received a fine notification and accepted the decision. Alibaba said he would comply.
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