More Trouble Brews For Alibaba, Tencent As China Ramps Up Anti-Monopoly Bureau

Anusuya Lahiri
·1 min read

  • China's competition watchdog, the State Administration for Market Regulation, will ramp up staffing at its anti-monopoly bureau, Bloomberg reports.

  • The bureau will split into three separate divisions focusing on antitrust investigations, market competition, and mergers oversight.

  • The bureau aims to increase the number of antitrust officials from over 40 currently to 100 before reaching 150 within five years.

  • The moves signal the SAMR, which has extracted billions in penalties from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) and Meituan (OTC: MPNGF) (OTC: MPNGY) for market abuse, is moving into a new phase of enforcing a plethora of regulations.

  • President Xi Jinping sought to strengthen antitrust work to ensure fair competition to thwart Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd's (OTC: TCEHY) growing dominance.

  • SAMR deputy director Gan Lin would likely lead the administration, while Wu Zhenguo, who currently heads the anti-monopoly division, will head the new investigation bureau.

  • Related Content: How China's Financial Sector Probe Could Pose Risk For Alibaba, DiDi?

  • Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 0.46% at $163.25 on the last check Tuesday.

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