Tencent will pay USD 214.7 million and transfer its ecommerce businesses QQ Wanggou and Paipai and a minority stake in Yixun to JD.com according to a filing today. JD.com cited Tencent’s Yixun online retail business as an emerging competitor in its IPO filing. The company said it also faces competition from Amazon’s China unit as well as Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall websites.
Tencent has also agreed to buy a further stake representing 5% of the company after the completion of an initial public offering.
The deal will combine JD.com’s established market selling a wide array of products from electronics to fashion with Tencent’s ecommerce platform. The 272 million active users on Tencent’s WeChat message service may increase traffic to JD.com’s online store.
Tencent has sought to combine messaging with services including shopping and gaming. Tencent agreed in January to invest USD 193 million in China South City Holdings, the owner of a logistics and warehouse network.
Online retailing in China increased twofold each year from 2003 to 2011 and is projected to more than triple to USD 395 billion in 2015 from 2011, according to a McKinsey & Co. report in March 2014.
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