New York: Walmart Stores Inc. has increased its stake in JD.com, China's No. 2 e-commerce site. In a regulatory filing late Wednesday, WalMart said that it has upped its stake in JD.com to 10.8 percent from 5.9 percent.
The move comes nearly four months after Walmart bought an initial stake in JD.com in a deal that also gave JD.com ownership of its Chinese e-commerce site Yihaodian, including the brand and app.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, is trying to improve its business in China, which is lucrative but increasingly challenging. In China, Walmart faces a business that has been slow and uneven. It operates more than 400 stores despite entering the country 20 years ago.
It sees bolstering its online business as the future in China. Walmart said at the time that it announced its initial stake that it could see a tremendous amount of traffic from JD.com's huge customer base and its same-day delivery network.
Getting China right is key to strengthening Wal-Mart's global online business. In September, it completed its deal to buy fast-growing U.S. online retailer Jet.com for a purchase price of $3 billion in cash plus $300 million in stock.
Wal-Mart's global online sales rose 11.8 percent in the second quarter. That's up from the 7 percent pace of the first quarter but still far weaker than the 20 percent increases from less than two years ago.
