Alibaba’s slide continues after central bank took action – E24

On Christmas Eve, it emerged that the Chinese authorities launched an investigation into the Alibaba Group on suspicion of monopolistic activities. The news sent the e-commerce giant plummeting more than 13 percent in New York, the steepest drop in history.

But the drama is far from over. Despite the company raising share buybacks from $ 6 billion to $ 10 billion (86.11 billion kroner) on Monday night, the stock is down 7.01 percent in Hong Kong at dawn.

The reason the decline continues is explained by the fact that related finance company Ant Group has now been told to review the business and go back to its roots, according to Bloomberg.

It was the Chinese central bank that made the most unusual public statement on Sunday.

China’s richest man, Jack Ma, is the largest shareholder in Alibaba, which is also behind Ant Group.

For Norwegians, Ant Group is probably best known as the developer of the Alipay payment service, which is also used by Norwegian stores targeting Chinese customers.

In recent years, Alipay has also made a lot of money in loans and fund management. This has boosted the market value.

According to Bloomberg, the central bank should not have directly asked the company to dissolve the business, but it should still have made it clear that it is necessary to “understand the need to review the business.”

Ant Group was on its way to the stock market earlier this year, but was stopped by regulatory authorities. The company was then expected to have a market value of more than $ 300 billion.