China’s central bank has announced that billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group has been fined $985 million for violating consumer data protection laws, according to information published Friday (July 23) China time.
Although the reason is a violation of current law, the interesting fact is that Alibaba, which owns 33% of Ant Group shares, has increased its ownership from 6% to 10:
00:00 Chinese time.
Louis Tse Ming-Kwong, a financial security executive based in Hong Kong, commented in the South China Morning Post that “this gets the ant penalized”.
Ant Group was founded by former Alibaba CEO Jack Ma and the source of the problem is related to the Chinese government’s $34.5 billion IPO ban in 2020.
The reason the Chinese government is upset is that the country’s credit system is not easy and not easy to invest under President Xi Jinping, who has pressured the economic hub to gain a foothold.
When Jack Ma said the words that would ignite this like a fire, Jack Ma disappeared from the internet and Alibaba Group lost billions of dollars. When the Chinese government launched an antitrust investigation in 2021, Alibaba was fined an additional $2.8 billion and technology service companies such as Didi and Meituan were blocked.
Now, when Ant Group was fined $985 million in July 2023, the rights to Alibaba, which owns a majority stake, e-commerce experts say about 10% of the rights have been lost.
Ant Group lending, credit investment and insurance business; A digital payments platform that manages startup and small business teams and interacts with hundreds of millions of customers every day.
To pay the $985 million fine, he had to comply with applicable laws and Tencent itself had a conflict with Jack Ma.
Ant Group was fined $323 million as a competitor, and chairman “Ma Huateng” expressed his belief that “it’s very encouraging and encouraging.”
Besides Alibaba, which has been considered a victim of manipulation for 3 consecutive years, other technology companies. Under pressure, the Chinese government’s crackdown, like the fine, is expected to end with a $985 fine, the BBC reports. (Crackdown – Ban, restrict, fine, etc. due to breaking the law, pressure one by one within the framework of the law)
Jack Ma is known to have become a billionaire after founding Alibaba in 1999 as an English teacher. Now, with no connection to Ant Group, in January 2023 it was said that the long lost thing was found in China in March 2023, according to the latest news.