China’s tech giants are allegedly experiencing increased pressure from regulators within the country who are worried about growing influence, causing Tencent to drop more than $60 billion from its market value as of Monday. The decrease in market value is largely due to concerns over greater regulator scrutiny. Chinese media reports that Alibaba, Tencent’s rival tech giant, may have to sell some media assets due to the crackdown. The incidents mark a tougher approach against tech firms adopted by Chinese regulators over the recent months.
On Friday, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation stated that they had fined 12 companies over 10 deals allegedly violating anti-monopoly rules, including Baidu, Didi Chuxing, SoftBank, Tencent, and ByteDance. Investors are concerned that Tencent could face increasing scrutiny from Chinese regulators. CCTV reported that President Xi Jinping ordered regulators to step up their oversight of internet companies, seeking to crack down on potential monopolies and promote fair competition amongst Chinese tech companies.
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