Walmart Dumps Entire Stake in China’s JD.com

Walmart said it unloaded its entire stake in JD.com, one of China’s biggest e-commerce companies, unwinding one of the largest investments in a Chinese retailer by a foreign rival.

In a securities filing on Tuesday, Walmart said it no longer held any shares of JD.com, but it did not disclose how many shares it sold or how much it raised with the sale. The retailing giant said it had 289 million shares of JD as of Dec. 31, 2023. In its annual report filed in April, JD stated that Walmart was a 9.4 percent shareholder.

“This decision allows us to focus on our strong China operations for Walmart China and Sam’s Club, and deploy capital towards other priorities,” Walmart said in a statement, adding that it would continue to have a “commercial relationship” with JD.

Bloomberg reported earlier that Walmart had raised $3.6 billion from the sale. Shares of JD.com listed in Hong Kong fell nearly 9 percent on Wednesday.

The sale closed the chapter on an investment by Walmart born out of desperation to gain a greater foothold in the Chinese market. In 2016, Walmart sold its Yihaodian website to JD.com, which along with Alibaba dominated China’s online shopping industry, and acquired a 5 percent stake in the company.

The e-commerce partnership between Walmart and JD included collaborating on areas like fulfillment and delivery. When they first came together, Chinese consumers were rapidly shifting to online shopping and Walmart was having a hard time displacing homegrown competitors.