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JD.com founder Richard Liu to get US$273 million from the e-commerce giant’s first dividend since 2014 IPO

  • The company has approved a special cash dividend of 63 US cents per ordinary share and US$1.26 per American depositary share, for a payout of US$2 billion
  • JD.com’s first dividend payment since going public comes as many Chinese entrepreneurs and investors are looking to cash out in a volatile market

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Richard Liu Qiangdong raises his arms to celebrate the IPO of his company JD.com at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York on May 22, 2014. JD.com recently said it had approved its first dividend since going public. Photo: AP
Tracy Quin Shanghai
JD.com founder Richard Liu Qiangdong is expected to get HK$2.1 billion (US$272.8 million) in cash with the company’s first cash dividend since going public on the Nasdaq in 2014.

The Beijing-based e-commerce giant said on Wednesday that it has approved a special cash dividend of 63 US cents per ordinary share and US$1.26 per American depositary share. In total, dividend payouts will amount to about US$2 billion, the company said.

Liu, whose net worth is about US$13.7 billion, holds 433 million ordinary shares, 13.8 per cent of the total, according to JD.com’s 2021 financial filing. Walmart holds 289 million ordinary shares, a 9.3 per cent stake.

Social media and video gaming juggernaut Tencent Holdings distributed most of its shares in JD.com as a special dividend to investors last December. Tencent’s stake in the company subsequently fell to 2.3 per cent, down from 17 per cent. This has made Liu once again the largest shareholder of the company he founded in 1998.

The dividend comes as many of China’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs seek to cash out on investments in an increasingly volatile market amid regulatory crackdowns and pandemic-fuelled economic headwinds.

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