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Visitors wait at the entrance to JD.com head office in Beijing. JD.com has grown into Chinas biggest Internet-based direct retailer. Photo: AP

New | Wal-Mart raises stake in China’s JD.com

Walmart

Wal-Mart Stores has increased its stake in JD.com, China’s No. 2 e-commerce site.

In a regulatory filing late Wednesday, Wal-Mart said that it has upped its stake in JD.com to 10.8 per cent from 5.9 per cent.

The move comes nearly four months after Wal-Mart bought an initial stake in JD.com in a deal that also gave JD.com ownership of its Chinese e-commerce site Yihaodian, including the brand and app.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is trying to improve its business in China, which is lucrative but increasingly challenging. In China, Wal-Mart faces a business that has been slow and uneven. It operates more than 400 stores despite entering the country 20 years ago. It sees bolstering its online business as the future in China.

Chinese shoppers leave a Walmart store in Beijing. Wal-Mart will transfer its online Yihaodian operations in China to JD.com in exchange for a stake in the Chinese e-commerce giant. Photo: AFP

Wal-Mart said at the time that it announced its initial stake that it could see a tremendous amount of traffic from JD.com’s huge customer base and its same-day delivery network.

Getting China right is key to strengthening Wal-Mart’s global online business. In September, it completed its deal to buy fast-growing US online retailer Jet.com for a purchase price of US$3 billion in cash plus $300 million in stock.

Wal-Mart’s global online sales rose 11.8 per cent in the second quarter. That’s up from the 7 per cent pace of the first quarter but still far weaker than the 20 per cent increases from less than two years ago.

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