China’s market regulator on Saturday said it was fining companies including Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com for not declaring 43 deals that date as far back as 2012 to authorities, as the failure to declare those deals is in violation of the anti-monopoly legislation.
According to the market regulator, enterprises involved in the cases will be fined 500,000 yuan ($78,000) each, the maximum under China’s 2008 Anti-Monopoly Law.
China is tightening its grip on internet platforms, as it reverses a once laissez-faire approach citing the risk of abusing market power to suppress competition, misuse of consumers’ data, and violation of consumer rights.
Amongst the deals, the earliest deal listed was an acquisition in 2012 involving Baidu and a partner, while the most recent was the 2021 agreement between Baidu and Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holdings for the creation of a new-energy vehicle company.
The State Administration of Market Supervision cited other deals including Alibaba’s 2014 acquisition of Chinese digital mapping and navigation firm AutoNavi and its 2018 purchase of a 44% stake in Ele.me to become the food delivery service’s largest shareholder.
However, the regulator stated that these deals did not have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition.
Earlier in December last year, it fined Alibaba, Tencent-backed China Literatur and Shenzhen Hive Box 500,000 yuan each for not reporting past deals properly for antitrust reviews, the first time it had ever done so.
