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Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images
China fined
Alibaba Group Holding
and two
Tencent Holdings
-backed companies on Monday, the latest indication that Chinese internet companies may face heightened regulatory scrutiny that could loom over their stocks in the near-term.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation levied fines of 500,000 yuan (about $76,500)—small, but the maximum allowed under antimonopoly laws—against Alibaba (ticker: BABA) and China Literature and Shenzhen Hive Box Technology, both backed by Tencent (700.Hong Kong). Regulators said the companies didn’t submit the proper disclosures for past acquisitions. The regulators also said that they would investigate other deals.
The fines come weeks after Chinese regulators unveiled draft antitrust guidelines that analysts said were aimed at the country’s large internet behemoths. Analysts expect more regulatory moves ahead.
“The [Communist] Party has realized that fintech has prospered in the regulatory gray area between finance and technology,” says Rory Green, an