(Newser)
– The Chinese government is extremely cautious about anything that could pose a challenge to a party’s government – including the growing power of technology giants. Regulators announced on Thursday that they are attacking Alibaba, an e-commerce giant known as “China’s Amazon”, and its sister financial services company Ant, formerly known as Alipay, the Wall Street Journal reports. Both companies were founded by billionaire Jack Ma, who is often compared to Jeff Bezos. The government said that antitrust regulators are investigating Alibaba’s “choose one of two” policy, which prevents business partners from negotiating with their rivals, reports the AP. Last month, Chinese regulators blocked Ant’s $ 35 billion IPO.
Analysts say Beijing’s crackdown reflects recent US efforts to limit the power of tech giants. “China wants to take the lead, instead of trading later, with tougher consequences, as the US is struggling to do,” said Peter Fuhrman, CEO of investment bank China First Capital, to the diary. “One concern would be that market power could potentially become political power.” The move follows years of rumors that President Xi Jinping was planning to act against the extravagant and outspoken Ma. The last straw was apparently a conference in October, where Ma strongly criticized regulators for stifling innovation. “In Chinese culture, if you are a rich guy and have very strong economic power and social influence, then you are politically dangerous and you need to remain discreet to be safe,” said economist Gary Liu to New York Times. (Read more stories from Alibaba.)