China launches antitrust probe into tech giant Alibaba
By Samuel Shen, Julie Zhu and Kane Wu
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) – China has launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba Group and may summon the tech giant’s Ant Group affiliate to fulfill in coming days, regulators acknowledged on Thursday, inside the latest blow for Jack Ma’s e-commerce and fintech empire.
The probe is part of an accelerating crackdown on monopolistic behaviour in China’s booming net home, and the newest setback for Ma, the 56-year-old former college teacher who primarily based Alibaba and have turn out to be China’s most well-known entrepreneur.
It follows China’s dramatic suspension last month of Ant’s deliberate $37 billion preliminary public offering, which had been on observe to be the world’s largest, merely two days sooner than shares have been as a consequence of begin shopping for and promoting in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
In a strongly worded editorial, the ruling Communist …