The Chinese online retailer plans to sell 15% of its logistics arm to Tencent and other investors in an early fundraising round to gather funds for its logistic built up.
Tencent will get about a third of the shares on offer and the deal will be completed by the middle of next month, billionaire founder Richard Liu said in an interview.
JD hopes to reach US soil before main competitor Alibaba Group. The online retailer has also made it clear that it plans to draw half of its revenue from overseas within a decade.
JD’s rule is that once we decide to do something we never limit the money,” Liu said in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum.
JD, which is listed in New York, is eyeing the largest city on the US west coast because of its enormous Chinese diaspora, and may lean on partner and shareholder Walmart for initial logistics support.
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