Alibaba Stock Shoots Higher On Positive Ant Financial Update - What's Going On?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA shares are trading above 5% Friday after China ended its regulatory overhaul on fintech affiliate Ant Group by imposing a penalty of 7.12 billion yuan ($984 million).

Ant Group paid the fine for violating consumer protection and corporate governance laws, Reuters reports.

The record penalty will help pave the way to secure a financial holding company license, seek growth, and revive its listing plans.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), which has been driving the revamp at Ant after China scrapped its $37 billion IPO in 2020, announced the penalty in a statement published on its website.

The record penalty will help revive Ant's listing plans. The fine will likely focus on Ant's alleged violations of a "disorderly expansion of capital" and the financial risks its once footloose businesses.

China penalized Alibaba a record 18 billion yuan in 2021 for antitrust violations.

Also, on Friday, Alibaba announced that its artificial intelligence (AI) image generator Tongyi Wanxiang will be initially available to enterprise customers in beta form.

Price Action: BABA shares traded higher by 5.88% at $88.77 on the last check Friday.