BEIJING (CHINA) – Alibaba’s upsized $10 billion buyback programme did not help ease the concerns of a regulatory crackdown on co-founder Jack Ma’s e-commerce and financial empire, causing shares to dip 9%, the lowest since June on Monday.
As much as $116 billion was knocked off the tech behemoth’s shares listed in Hong Kong in a sharp sell-off lasting two sessions.
It became all the more intense when Chinese regulators said on Thursday that they would launch an anti-trust probe into Alibaba and summon its Ant Group affiliate. Shares of Alibaba in the US dipped more than 15% during the day.
“The antitrust investigation into Alibaba has yet to specify the penalties, which is worrying investors a lot,” said Zhang Zihua, chief investment officer of Beijing Yunyi Asset.
Investors were also concerned over the central bank of China asking Ant to shake up its lending and consumer finance operations.