Beijing (AFP)

Thunderclap in the business world in China: Alibaba, symbol of the country's success in the digital economy, is in the crosshairs of the communist regime for "suspicion of monopoly practices".

The announcement of the opening of an investigation by the State Administration for Market Regulation against the group founded by charismatic Jack Ma caused a plunge in the shares of the champion of online commerce, which lost more than 8 % at the end of the morning on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

"There is clearly an escalation of coordinated efforts to hamper the empire of Jack Ma, which symbolized the new Chinese entities too big to fail," analyst Dong Ximiao of the Institute observed for Bloomberg. internet finance in Zhongguancun, Beijing's "Silicon Valley".

Authorities have provided scant details of Alibaba's allegations, other than an unspecified "exclusivity deal".

- Alibaba will "actively" cooperate -

The e-commerce giant has "promised to actively cooperate with the investigation with regulators."

In addition to the investigation against the parent company, regulators announced that they had contacted Ant Group, the world leader in online payments, for "oversight" matters, less than two months after Beijing canceled the introduction at the last minute. on the stock market of this Alibaba subsidiary.

This IPO was announced as a world record, with a booty of 34.4 billion dollars (27.4 billion EUR).

In a statement, Ant Group said it would "quickly study the demands of regulatory authorities and strictly comply with them."

The suspension of its listing on Ant Group in early November had already caused astonishment.

It came a few days after a speech in Shanghai by Jack Ma, during which the multi-billionaire had criticized the action of financial regulators.

The remarks had earned him a summons from the authorities and Jack Ma has not been seen in public since the Ant Group stock market fiasco.

"The subliminal political message is that no business or individual has the right to challenge the Communist Party regardless of its size," commented AFP Richard McGregor of the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

- Fear of online loans -

At 56, he is no longer officially at the head of his group since his retirement last year.

But it retains a preponderant influence on Alibaba as on Ant Group, via the shares it holds.

The public authorities are worried about the power of technological groups and more particularly their forays into the online lending sector, where they are freeing themselves from the prudential rules imposed on public banks.

The Chinese media have relayed these concerns by warning of the risks of financial turbulence with regard to Alibaba but also its great rival Tencent.

The investigation against Alibaba "is an important step for our country to strengthen anti-monopolistic supervision in the internet sector and promote a healthy long-term development of the digital economy," wrote the People's Daily, an organ of the Communist Party in power.

A meeting of top regime leaders last week around President Xi Jinping called for "staunch opposition to monopolies."

Sign of the impatience of the public authorities against Alibaba, the group had already been fined last week of 500,000 yuan (62,000 euros) for not having reported an acquisition.

Alibaba did not respond to AFP's questions midday Thursday.

© 2020 AFP