Google says it will invest $550 million in Alibaba's main rival JD.com as the U.S. tech giant seeks to expand in fast-growing Asian e-commerce markets

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Google says it will invest $550 million in Alibaba’s main rival JD.com as the U.S. tech giant seeks to expand in fast-growing Asian e-commerce markets. Under the partnership, JD.com products will appear on Google’s shopping service, giving JD.com access to consumers outside Asia, while Google can apply the Chinese e-commerce company’s supply chain and logistics expertise to its technology. "This partnership with Google opens up a broad range of possibilities to offer a superior retail experience to consumers throughout the world," JD's chief strategy officer, Jianwen Liao, said in a statement Monday. Company officials said the agreement initially would not involve any major new Google initiatives in China, where the company's main services are blocked over its refusal to censor search results in line with local laws. Google will invest more than half a billion dollars in China’s second-largest e-commerce company JD.com as part of a move to expand retail services around the world, the companies said Monday. JD.com's investors include Chinese social media powerhouse Tencent Holdings Ltd, the arch-rival of Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, and Walmart Inc.

"Given Walmart also has a close relationship with JD, I see (the investment) as further tightening of the Google/Walmart alliance, which seems focused on building a third force in ecommerce beyond Amazon and Alibaba," said Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell. Google will put $550 million in cash into JD.com and in return, the California-based company will receive 27.1 million newly issued JD.com Class A ordinary shares.
Google announces that it will invest US$550 million in the Chinese e-commerce company JD.com.