China Fines Alibaba, Tencent Unit Under Anti-Monopoly Laws
- Alibaba, China Literature didn’t declare deals to regulators
- SAMR is scrutinizing the proposed merger of Huya and DouYu
China’s antitrust watchdog fined Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and a Tencent Holdings Ltd. unit over a pair of years-old acquisitions and said it’s reviewing an impending Tencent-led merger, signaling Beijing’s intention to tighten oversight of internet sector deals.
The State Administration for Market Regulation said Monday it’s reviewing the combination of DouYu International Holdings Ltd. with Huya Inc., which could create a Chinese game streaming leader akin to Amazon’s Twitch. It fined Alibaba 500,000 yuan ($76,500) for failing to seek approval before increasing its stake in department store chain Intime Retail Group Co. to 73.79% in 2017, while China Literature Ltd., the e-books business spun off by Tencent, was also censured over a previous deal, according to a statement.