Jack Ma's Alibaba to face anti-monopoly probe in China

E-commerce giant Alibaba, one of China’s top companies, will be investigated on charges of alleged monopolistic practices, the country’s regulators announced on Thursday, stepping up their efforts to tighten control over the country’s fastest-growing tech industries.

China’s official news agency Xinhua said that acting on information, the country’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has started an investigation on Alibaba Group for alleged monopoly conduct including implementing an ‘exclusive dealing agreement’.

The country’s market regulator has said it was looking into Alibaba’s policy of “choose one of two,” which requires its business partners to avoid dealing with competitors. The one-sentence statement gave no details of possible penalties or a timeline to announce a result.

Meanwhile, following the announcement, stocks fell in Shanghai. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.3% to 3,373.66 and shares also fell on the smaller market in southern China’s Shenzhen.

Chinese leaders had said earlier an economic priority in the coming year will be to step up anti-monopoly enforcement. Regulators earlier forced the suspension of the stock market debut of Ant Group, an online finance platform spun off from Alibaba.

Meanwhile, the country also is ramping up its scrutiny of the practice of community group buying, summoning some of the nation’s largest tech companies for discussions as part of the anti-monopoly push.

The SAMR also recently summoned six companies, including Alibaba and other e-commerce platforms JD.com and Pinduoduo, gaming company Tencent, food delivery firm Meituan and ridesharing firm Didi Chuxing over potential ramifications of community group buying.

Alibaba Group is the world’s biggest e-commerce company by total sales volume.