China Launches Anti-Monopoly Probe into Jack Ma’s Alibaba

China has launched its anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba causing its share price to fall along with the net worth of its founder Jack Ma.

Regulators will also hold “supervisory guidance” talks with Alibaba’s financial services subsidiary, Ant Group.

The State Administration for Market Regulation of China said in a statement investigators are probing Alibaba for “suspected monopolistic practices,”

Alibaba responded that it “will actively cooperate with the regulators on the investigation.”

Ant Group said it would “diligently study and strictly comply with regulatory departments’ requests.”

Richard McGregor, senior fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, said “There is an underlying political message, that no company, and no individual, can grow so big in China to the point where they can potentially challenge the authority of the CCP,”

Source: ABS-CBN