(Yicai Global) May 11 -- Shares in Meituan maintained their downward trajectory today, plummeting as much as 8.67 percent, as China’s largest takeout platform continues to come under pressure from regulators as they crack down on monopolistic practices by dominant internet-based firms.

Meituan’s share price [HKG:3690] has been dropping for the last ten trading days and closed down 5.25 percent at HKD249 (USD32) today, giving it a market capitalization of HKD1.5 trillion (USD193 billion). It had earlier in the day fallen to HKD240. The firm has seen HKD1.2 trillion (USD154.5 billion) wiped off its valuation since this year’s peak of HKD451.50 in mid-February.

The company has been in hot water with regulators in recent months for allegedly abusing its dominant position to crowd out the competition. In March it was slapped with a CNY1.5 million (USD230,000) fine for predatory pricing. In April it was told to compensate rival Ele.me CNY352,000 (USD53,900) for unfair competition.

It is also being probed by the market regulator as to whether Meituan forces merchants to ‘choose between platforms,’ preventing them from opening stores on competitive sites. E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding was last month penalized CNY18.2 billion (USD2.8 billion) for abusing its dominant position and committing such an offence.

Yesterday there was more bad news for Meituan as a consumer watchdog group in Shanghai added to the growing chorus of complaints, saying that the food delivery platform needs to improve the vetting of vendors’ qualifications, ban fake products, deal with consumer complaints more quickly and attract new clients in a fair manner.

Meituan has already made substantial concessions to its fee structure and is capping commissions at 6 percent with the minimum amount per order being set at CNY1.34 (USD0.21), the Beijing-based firm said on May 8. This is a huge reduction from the 26 percent commission it was previously charging that led to a public outcry.

Commissions charged by takeout and other internet-based platforms should be optimized to allow for smaller merchants to make use of their services, the regulator said in a document earlier this year. Fees should also be made more transparent, it added.

Editor: Kim Taylor