China fines Alibaba and Tencent for antitrust violations

China's General Administration of Market Supervision and Regulation imposed fines on tech giants Alibaba and Tencent, as well as a number of other companies, for failing to comply with antitrust rules on disclosing transactions. Reuters reports this with reference to the PRC regulator.

The Chinese regulator released a list of 28 transactions that violate the rules. In particular, Alibaba has had five such deals, including a 2021 purchase of shares in its subsidiary, streaming platform Youku Tudou. Tencent committed violations in 12 transactions.

According to Bloomberg, which also cites the regulator, Tencent was fined 6 million yuan ($896,245) and Alibaba will have to pay 2.5 million yuan ($378,675).

Under China's antitrust law, the fine in each case can be as high as 500,000 yuan ($74,688). Thus, both companies were fined the maximum amount.

Last November, the Chinese regulator said it was imposing 500,000 yuan ($78,000) fines on Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com and other Chinese IT companies, Reuters reported. The undeclared deals included Alibaba's purchase of AutoNavi, an agreement between Baidu and automaker Zhejiang Geely Holdings to jointly develop electric vehicles, and Alibaba's 2018 acquisition of a 44% stake in online food delivery platform Ele.me.

In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that Tencent Holdings was facing a record fine for violating anti-money laundering requirements of the Central Bank of China.

Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/