Deals
China’s JD Prepares to Take on Amazon on Its Home Turf
- Tencent and other investors to buy 15% of JD Logistics
- The Billionaire CEO is preparing for a Los Angeles launch
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JD.com Inc. is preparing to make its U.S. debut with a beachhead in Los Angeles, seeking to best arch-rival Alibaba and challenge Amazon.com Inc. on its home turf.
The $68 billion company, which said in December it’ll start online sales in the U.S. by the second half of 2018, is now seeking funds to bankroll a logistics build-up to support an international expansion. JD is in final-stage discussions to sell 15 percent of its logistics arm to Tencent Holdings Ltd. and other investors in an early fundraising round. 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.