The Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation fines three internet companies for failure to notify past merger transactions under the merger control regime in breach of the Anti-Monopoly Law (Alibaba / China Literature / Shenzhen)

On 14 December 2020, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) imposed fines against three internet based companies Alibaba Investment Limited, China Literature Limited and Shenzhen Hive-box Network Technology for respective failures to notify past transactions under the merger control regime in breach of the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML). China Literature and Shenzhen Hive-box are affiliates of the Tencent group and the SF Express group, respectively. The fact that these three decisions against tech companies have been announced simultaneously is no coincidence, and they come hot on the