Alibaba Drops After Beijing Puts 618 Subsidies in the Spotlight
Alibaba Group Holding shares dropped again Thursday after China’s market regulator used what’s usually a standard shopping season check-in to call out Taobao and Tmall over 6.18 discount claims. The warning came as Alibaba’s New York shares were already falling. Alibaba’s Hong Kong stock slid 5.4%. JD.com shares lost 2.9%, the Financial Times said. The Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation said it called in Taobao/Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin and Xiaohongshu over what it described as “involution-style” competition, meaning aggressive price battles that don’t add long-term value. The regulator found issues such as false promotion, unclear sales terms and missing info on merchants, and ordered the platforms to fix them.