The Chinese securities regulator has fined Ant Group 7.1 billion yuan $954 million) for “illegal acts,” AFP reported Friday, sending the stock of its affiliate, the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA up about 4% premarket. Ant, which was founded by billionaire and former CEO of Alibaba Jack Ma, does payment processing, consumer lending and insurance products but came under scrutiny from the Chinese government which forced it to pull a planned IPO in mid-2020. Alibaba was fined 18 billion yuan in 2021 for antitrust violations, as Reuters reported. Reuters was first to break the news of Friday’s fine. Ma had been living outside of China until earlier this year after running into government criticism for a speech slamming its regulatory system. That speech is widely held to be the reason for a government crackdown on industry.
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