On March 12, China’s top antitrust regulator said it had issued fines to 12 Chinese companies over 10 investment deals in the internet sector that were in violation of the Anti-Monopoly Law. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) disclosed the 20 companies that were involved in those deals.
Nearly all of the companies mentioned were Chinese companies considered “big tech,” or their subsidiaries. They include Alibaba, Tencent, Didi Chuxing, Baidu, JD.com, ByteDance, Meituan, and Suning. Those firms were fined for failing to report merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in advance, which is considered a violation of China’s antitrust law.
Bottom line: The penalties—RMB 500,000 (around $76,095) each—were trivial for companies of such size. But the regulator’s move was a warning: China’s tech antitrust campaign, which began in November, has not ended and will only grow in scope and severity.
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