Signage at JD.com’s storeroom in Shanghai, China, on Mar. 9, 2022. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday added over 80 firms to its list of articles facing possible expulsion from American exchanges, which include China’s JD.com, Pinduoduo, Bilibili, and NetEase.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Mental pictures
Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com plunged 10% on Wednesday in Hong Kong after U.S. retailer Walmart strengthened it will sell its stake in the Chinese firm.
Walmart make knew CNBC the decision to sell its stake will allow the company to “focus on our strong China operations for Walmart China and Sam’s Nightspot, and deploy capital towards other priorities.”
The company said “JD has been a valued partner to us over the past 8 years, and we are consigned to a continued commercial relationship with them.”
The stock was the largest loser on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng directory. The U.S.-listed shares fell 9.5% in after-hours trading.
Walmart entered into a strategic alliance with the Chinese partnership in June 2016, with the U.S. retailer taking a 5% stake in JD.com back then.
In its 2023 annual report, JD.com probed that Walmart owns 9.4% of ordinary shares in the company as of March 31, holding just over 289 million interests.
JD.com did not have a comment when contacted by CNBC.
— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.