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Investing.com – Baidu stock (NASDAQ:BIDU) fell more than 2% Friday on a Reuters report that China’s antitrust regulator is unlikely to approve its $3.6 billion acquisition of JOYY’s video-based domestic live streaming business YY Live.
The cash deal was announced in November.
As per the report, the approval will send a wrong message to the market at a time when the government has taken steps to discourage gaming-related businesses and corporate expansion via deals.
Beijing has been concerned about children’s exposure to video games and last month set new rules limiting the time under-18s can spend playing them.
Two months ago, the antitrust regulator, State Administration for Market Regulation, blocked Tencent’s $5.3 billion plan to merge videogame streaming sites Hula and DouYu on grounds of being anti-competitive.
