The $2.8 billion Alibaba Fines
The power of a nation in motion. That nation fines its largest digital company - and the company wakes up to thank the government for the fines. Yes, China has fined Alibaba, the eponymous ecommerce juggernaut, $2.8 billion for abusing its market dominance: “The e-commerce platform was found guilty of forcing merchants to choose one of two platforms rather than being able to work with both.”
And the company responded by thanking the government: “Alibaba would not have achieved our growth without sound government regulation and service, and the critical oversight, tolerance and support from all of our constituencies have been crucial to our development.”
Then in Nigeria - some are suing in court to have a competitor shut down its sugar refinery! What a contrast.
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April 11, 2021.
Late 2020 when regulatory bodies came in heavy on Alibaba, shutting down what was to be the largest IPO of all time, Alipay $37 billion public offering, many ranted in condemnation. Thereafter, Nigerian regulatory body for that sector came in on some technology enabled firms and the noise was louder with many throwing words.
On that, I wrote, using the illustration of a super car, I said that technology is an enabler or multiplier, which means, it is just wings for flying. What really matters is the body, and if the bodies have a governance system, then the enablers need to be monitored with greater care, because they have more chances to cause chaos just as they have an uplifting multiplier tendency. Regardless of how careful a driver can be, imagine a car without brakes, that is damage unavoidable. However, this regulatory bodies should know and understand when to use soft power (hand brake) or hard power (pedal brake) to carry out their operations so as not to break the flow in the system.
That bring me to this news of Alibaba fines, this is a highly welcomed move and it shows that the referee (regulatory body) and players (culprit) understand their place and are swift to correcting any abnormality in the trading ecosystem. Bringing it home, two days ago, Security and Exchange Commission whist discharging her duty came in hard on bamboo- an investech startup, declaring them as illegal because according to regulatory laws they acted out of line.
To this, I write that there should be changes to the current law governing the sector as many do not have confidence at the moment in the companies traded at the stock market. Further, the SEC, should employ the same aggressiveness this ponzi scheme display in getting traction.
To reduce the funds lost to ponzi scheme in the nation, these young innovative citizens are looking for means to uplift her fellow citizen from poverty, however, they are not going about it the right way because it makes no sense for regulatory bodies to become comfortable seeing huge funds leave the country without raising alarm.
