China begins probe into Meituan as Internet-industry crackdown widens

China is investigating supply big Meituan over suspected antitrust practices, the most recent transfer by Beijing to tighten its grip on the nation’s more and more highly effective tech {industry}.

China’s prime market regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation, on Monday mentioned it had launched a probe into Hong Kong-listed Meituan for suspected monopolistic behaviors, together with the apply of so-called “er xuan yi,” or “choose one over two.” The apply prevents retailers from promoting their items on a number of platforms.

Meituan, which acts as a web-based market for eating places and different retailers, mentioned it might actively cooperate with the investigation and search to enhance its compliance administration. It added that its varied companies are presently working usually.

The investigation comes after dozens of China’s largest know-how firms, together with Meituan, earlier this month publicly pledged to adjust to antimonopoly legal guidelines after Beijing blocked the preliminary public providing of Ant Group Co. and hit tech big Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. with a file $2.8 billion nice.

Meituan had mentioned in its pledge that it gained’t undertake unreasonable restrictions to power retailers into exclusivity measures.

The transfer on Monday additionally confirmed fears amongst some traders that Meituan can be the following goal after authorities concluded their monthslong probe into Alibaba and appeared set to develop the crackdown past the enterprise empire of Jack Ma, China’s best-known entrepreneur. Those considerations despatched Meituan shares tumbling over 12% within the two buying and selling days following information of the nice imposed on Alibaba.

Meituan is China’s third-most precious web agency, behind videogame developer Tencent Holdings Ltd. and e-commerce big Alibaba, with a market worth of greater than $200 billion. Its shares have greater than tripled prior to now 12 months because the pandemic triggered a world demand growth for on-line services and products.

The “er xuan yi” exclusivity apply has been of central concern for regulators as Beijing seeks to rein in China’s fast-growing web {industry}. The SAMR repeatedly highlighted its scrutiny over such practices within the Alibaba probe and earlier this month ordered 34 tech corporations to revamp operations, particularly with respect to those exclusivity measures.

This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.

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