China’s latest fines on Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu show Beijing’s anti-monopoly commitment
- Violations announced by the country’s antitrust watchdog on Saturday dates back as early as 2012
- Beijing is committed to scrutinising business deals by tech giants, said an analyst
The recent decision by China’s antitrust regulator to fine a number of domestic tech giants for misconduct committed years ago shows that Beijing is serious about its anti-monopoly crackdown targeting the internet industry, said an analyst.
On Saturday, the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) announced it had fined several companies including South China Morning Post owner Alibaba Group Holding, JD.com, Tencent Holdings, Baidu and ByteDance for failing to disclose 43 deals. The companies were fined 500,000 yuan (US$78,000) for each violation.
The oldest infraction goes back to 2012, when Baidu and information technology firm Nanjing Wangdian bought shares that made them the largest shareholders of software development company Nanjing Xinfeng. The latest violation involves an agreement between Baidu and carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holdings to create a new-energy vehicle company.
The violations revealed on Saturday also include some well-known acquisition deals in recent years, such as Alibaba’s purchase of Chinese maps and navigation company AutoNavi in 2014, as well as the e-commerce giant’s acquisition of a 44 per cent stake in Ele.me – the country’s second-largest on-demand delivery company after Meituan – in 2018.
“The cases announced this time are all deals in the past that should have been declared but were not. They involved a large number of cases, a wide range of companies, and a long time span,” the SAMR said in a statement. The deals, however, did not lead to the elimination or restriction of competition, the regulator said.
Alibaba, ByteDance, Baidu and JD.com did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday, while Tencent declined to comment.