Despite his massive financial wealth and connections, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has seemingly failed to stop his sprawling business empire from becoming the latest prey to domestic regulators.

Within one day, Ma’s e-commerce business Alibaba Group was put under investigation for alleged monopolistic practices, and his financial technology firm Ant Group will face another meeting with regulators to implement financial supervision.

This deals another blow to the former English teacher after the regulator pulled the plug on Ant Group’s blockbuster IPO at the 11th hour last month.

Following the latest regulatory intervention, shares of Alibaba traded in Hong Kong plummeted almost 10% following the news, closing at HK$228.2. Meanwhile, shares of rival JD.com only dropped 2.28% and the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 0.16%.

The State Administration for Market Regulation said on Thursday that it is launching an investigation into the monopolistic practices of Alibaba, namely the so-called “choosing one from two” practice that prohibits merchants from supplying products to rival platforms.

Hong Kong economist Law Ka-chung said that the arrangement could be interpreted as imposing a barrier to entry.

However, it is often a difficult and complicated process to prove any related wrong-doings, adding that many people could simply have the habit of using the platform, the former chief economist at the Bank of Communications said.

Shuai Wang, chairman of Marketing and Public Relations Committee at Alibaba, said last year that the “choosing one from two practice” is standard market behavior and that it is one way for the e-commerce platform to distinguish merchants that deserve the most marketing resources.

“This is the most basic commercial principle,” Wang said in a social media post last year.

Ant Group, the financial technology arm of Ma’s business empire, will also meet with financial regulators, including the central bank and regulators overseeing banking, insurance and foreign exchanges, state media Xinhua reported.

The meeting is intended to guide Ant Group to “implement financial supervision, fair competition and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.”

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