The fortune of Chinese billionaire and Alibaba founder Jack Ma has increased by $2.3 billion after Chinese authorities fined the company a record amount. According to Bloomberg, in the billionaires index — Bloomberg billionaires index — the entrepreneur, who became even richer after the fine, now occupies the 25th place with a fortune of 52.1 billion dollars.
Alibaba shares also rose. By Tuesday, April 13, they had risen by 9.27 percent.
Earlier in April, the state Administration for Market Control of the People’s Republic of China fined Alibaba a record amount in the country’s history — 18.22 billion yuan ($2.78 billion) for violating antitrust laws. The investigation confirmed that Alibaba had a policy of forcing consumers to use its services “without the right to choose”.
Ma’s conflict with the Chinese authorities began last year after the entrepreneur criticized the government’s policy on digital technologies. After that, the IPO was not allowed to go to the “daughter” of Alibaba — Ant Group. The reason for the feud could be the investigation of possible beneficiaries of the transaction. Among them were people associated with political clans that are not acceptable to the current government. In February, Ant Group and Chinese regulators agreed on a restructuring plan that would turn the company into a financial holding company.
According to Bloomberg, the new victim of the Chinese authorities may be the technology giant Tencent: the company also fell under a fine for antitrust violations. The claims were caused by the purchase of the online educational service Yuanfudao in 2018. The fine amounted to 77 thousand dollars, but in mid-March, this led to a collapse of the shares by 4.5 percent, and the capitalization fell to 810 billion dollars. The conglomerate is likely to be forced to separate financial, insurance and fintech assets into a separate business, which will immediately fall under tighter regulation.