The Chinese government can nationalise the country's billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba and Ant group, according to media reports.
This development has come at a time when the Chinese government is initiating an investigation against Ant Group.
On January 24, Jack Ma had delivered a speech in which he criticised the Chinese bureaucratic system. He alleged that it stifled innovation and equated banking regulations with an "Old people's club".
"Based on tip-offs received by the State Administration for Market Regulation in recent days, the administration will be investigating Alibaba for suspected monopolistic activities," the Chinese government quoted was quoted as saying by International Business Times.
The scrutiny of the Ant Group, which owns China's largest digital payment platform Alipay that has over one billion users and 80 million merchants, comes at a time when the Chinese government is closely examining the influence of the country's internet sector.
The country last month released a draft of regulations under State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) that is clamping down on anti-competitive practices in the industry that includes signing an exclusive agreement with merchants and the use of subsidies to remove competitors from the market.
