By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Tencent Music (NYSE:TME) fell over 2% in Monday’s premarket trading as authorities in China escalated their scrutiny of the company, its parent and sister concerns.
According to Reuters, the country’s antitrust regulator is set to order Tencent Holdings' (OTC:TCEHY)’ music streaming arm to give up exclusive rights to music labels it has used to compete with smaller rivals.
The State Administration of Market Regulation will also fine it 500,000 yuan ($77,150) for lapses in reporting the acquisitions of apps Kuwo and Kugou, the report said.
In a separate matter Reuters reported Saturday, China's market regulator will block Tencent Holdings’ plan to merge the country's top two videogame streaming sites, Huya (NYSE:HUYA) and DouYu (NASDAQ:DOYU) on antitrust grounds.
Tencent is Huya's biggest shareholder with almost 37% stake and also owns over a third of DouYu.
SAMR said Huya and DouYu’s combined market share in the video game live streaming industry would be over 70% and their merger would be anti-competitive, given Tencent already has over 40% market share in the online games operations segment.
The Chinese giant said it will abide by the decision of the regulator.