Speaker 1: Let's get to Hong Kong to take a closer look
Speaker 1: at this story, first featured by the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 1: Authorities in China are expected to find d D global
Speaker 1: more than a billion dollars. Reuters is now reporting a
Speaker 1: similar account the charge with cap Aijing's year long probe
Speaker 1: into the right hailing giant. We're going to take a
Speaker 1: closer look with our own Edwin Chan. He is Bloomberg's
Speaker 1: Asia tech team leader, joining us from our studio in
Speaker 1: Hong Kong. Edwin, thanks for being with us. So d
Speaker 1: D pays a billion dollars, which seems like a lot.
Speaker 1: What's next is the worst of the crackdown for d
Speaker 1: D over I think right the biggest question is right
Speaker 1: now with events beyond and all of it, and it's
Speaker 1: not at all clear to me, at least based on
Speaker 1: our reporting, that they're going to get away with just
Speaker 1: a billion dollars in fines, which too many observers would
Speaker 1: have been would be what amount to a slap on
Speaker 1: the wrist. I mean, think back to a year ago
Speaker 1: when when d D had it's much talented ip with
Speaker 1: a lot of fanfare in New York and days later
Speaker 1: the authorities came down on them like a ton of bricks.
Speaker 1: And since then it's been kind of unrelenting um regulations
Speaker 1: and restrictions and public censure, state media criticism. Uh you know.
Speaker 1: They they had to remove their apps from stores and
Speaker 1: potentially there was talk of uh quote unquote unprecedented penalties
Speaker 1: and they were forced to delist. So right now they're
Speaker 1: treating as a pink sheet in New York, which is
Speaker 1: usually a market reserved for uh less solid companies. And
Speaker 1: it's that that that their fate is kind of uncertain
Speaker 1: right now whether they can even you know, make that
Speaker 1: journey back to becoming a listed company again. So Beijing
Speaker 1: has find other Chinese tech firms. I'm thinking Ali Baba
Speaker 1: and I think the figure was around two point seven
Speaker 1: five billion and the delivery and ma Chuan was find
Speaker 1: about five million dollars as part of a crackdown. Is
Speaker 1: there a formula that the antitrust regulator is using when
Speaker 1: determining the amount of these fines. Yes, in most cases
Speaker 1: there are anti trust guidelines where you are allowed to
Speaker 1: find a certain percentage of say the previous year's domestic revenue.
Speaker 1: So that was the formula formula very employed in Ali
Speaker 1: Baba's case, for instance, which was a record find and
Speaker 1: that was two point eight billion. Indeed, these case it's
Speaker 1: less clear that the regulator overseeing this saga is a
Speaker 1: very different one the cyberspace administration of China. And I again,
Speaker 1: if you recall the events of a year ago, indeed,
Speaker 1: these cases, it was wasn't only kind of an anti trust,
Speaker 1: anti competitive issue. It basically was a very um systemic
Speaker 1: data issue according to the SEA a C. And it
Speaker 1: sparked a nationwide clamped down on data security as well
Speaker 1: as freezing you know, a multibillion dollars some multi jillion
Speaker 1: dollar I puor pipeline that still hasn't really resumed. So
Speaker 1: if if you just look at those two cases side
Speaker 1: by side, I there are there are many who would
Speaker 1: say that d d's issue is of a different scale.
Speaker 1: I shall we say, then Ali Baba is all meat
Speaker 1: once Well, I think it goes without saying that there
Speaker 1: was created a bit of a sigh of relief. I
Speaker 1: think for d D investors, the a d R s
Speaker 1: today in New York, we're up by more than Edwin.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being with us and sharing your expertise. Edwin
Speaker 1: Chann is Bloomberg Asian Tech team leader,