China imposes $2.8 bn penalty on Jack Ma's Alibaba Group in monopoly probe

The penalty is equivalent to 4% of Alibaba's domestic sales in 2019, China's State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement on Saturday

China imposed a record fine of 18.2 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. after an anti-monopoly probe found that it had abused its dominant market position.

The penalty is triple the previous high of almost $1 billion that Qualcomm Inc. had to pay in 2015. The fine is equivalent to 4% of Alibaba’s domestic sales in 2019, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement on Saturday.

Alibaba will likely have to change some of its practices, like merchant exclusivity, that critics say helped it become China’s largest e-commerce operation. The company founded by billionaire