China fines Alibaba a record $2.8 billion

China's State Administration for Market Control has fined online retailer Alibaba nearly $2.8 billion for violating antitrust laws, according to the official website of the regulator. This is a record corporate fine in the history of the country.

The amount of the fine is equivalent to approximately 4% of the company's revenue in 2019. In addition, Alibaba must carry out "comprehensive fixes" in several areas at once.

Based on the investigation, the regulator concluded that Alibaba used platform rules and technical methods "to maintain and strengthen its own market power and obtain undue competitive advantages." In particular, the online retailer forbade opening stores on other sites.

The State Office for Market Control announced the launch of an investigation into the company in late December amid a long-running conflict between the Chinese government and Alibaba founder Jack Ma. The latter has repeatedly criticized the banking system of China.

The Wall Street Joutnal wrote that the antitrust authorities are preparing to impose the largest fine on Alibaba in connection with the dissatisfaction of Chinese leader Xi Jinping with the statements of the founder of the company. The Chinese authorities do not want to "break" the company, but they will be required to distance themselves from the "too flamboyant" founder Jack Ma and adhere more to the policies of the Communist Party, according to WSJ sources.

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The Bell went into detail about how Jack Ma built Alibaba's empire and why the Chinese authorities didn't stop short of disrupting the IPO of its fintech arm to rein in the billionaire.