The regulatory watchdog found the travel platform guilty of abusing its dominant market position by mandating exclusive partnerships and enforcing price-matching requirements on hotels. The total penalty includes a 3.52 billion yuan fine and the confiscation of 1.66 billion yuan in profits deemed illegal, alongside an order to refund 122 million yuan in hotel deposits. Trip.com leadership accepted the findings and committed to comprehensive internal governance reforms.
In section Market Quotes
Trip.com Shares Rally as $765 Million Fine Ends Antitrust Probe
Investors pushed Trip.com shares up by 7.7% in Hong Kong trading Monday, reacting to the closure of a monthslong antitrust investigation. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation imposed a 5.18 billion yuan penalty, effectively removing the regulatory uncertainty that had suppressed the company’s stock value throughout the year.
Prior to this resolution, Trip.com shares had plummeted roughly 35% since January, with Nasdaq-listed depositary receipts sliding nearly 40%. Analysts at Citi suggest that while the company must now abandon the restrictive practices that previously bolstered its margins, the end of the investigation provides a clear path forward. The market appears to have largely priced in these operational shifts, and the firm’s core strengths in traffic and supply-chain management are expected to preserve its market position despite the financial hit.
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