The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), China’s market regulator announced on Monday that they will fine Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings backed China Literature and Shenzhen Hive Box 500,000 yuan ($76,464.29) each for not reporting deals properly for antitrust reviews.
According to the statement made by the State Administration of Market Regulation, it has taken the decision after reviewing deals the firms were involved in, including Alibaba’s past deal with Intime Retail (Group) Co Ltd and China Literature’s acquisition of New Classics Media.
Alibaba the e-commerce giant was seeking to extend its online dominance into physical stores when he teamed up with the founder of China’s Intime Retail (Group) Co. to take the department store operator private. Alibaba already had a 28% stake in Intime from a US $692 million investment the company made in 2014.
China Literature the leading online literature platform, entered into a definitive agreement with the senior management team of New Classics Media (“NCM”) and Tencent Holdings Limited where China Literature acquired 100% of the share capital of NCM from certain members of NCM’s senior management team and Tencent in a transaction valuing NCM at RMB 15.5 billion.
NCM is a renowned TV series, web series and film producer in China with a track record of creating blockbuster content including TV and web series titles such as The First Half of My Life and Yu Zui, as well as films such as Wukong and Some Like It Hot.